Propane exports set a record 2.1 million barrels a day in April

U.S. propane exports reached a record 2.1 million barrels a day in April 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the first month in which shipments cleared 2 million barrels a day. EIA’s monthly series puts the exact figure at 2,093 thousand barrels per day, ahead of 2,023 thousand in May and 1,958 thousand in June.

The agency published the finding in an Oct. 1 Today in Energy article built on its Petroleum Supply Monthly data, and it ties the surge to Asian buyers, India above all, looking for cargoes to replace disrupted Middle East supply. The article’s chart runs from January 2004 through June 2026, and no earlier month in that history topped 2 million barrels a day.

The Monthly Series Behind the April Record

The record sits inside a steep climb. In EIA’s monthly export table, propane shipments were 1,806 thousand barrels per day in February 2026 and 1,943 thousand in March before reaching 2,093 thousand in April. They then eased to 2,023 thousand in May, 1,958 thousand in June and 1,908 thousand in July.

EIA’s Today in Energy article measures the first half of 2026 at about 2 million barrels per day, 11 percent above the first half of 2025. It says exports have stayed well above the five-year average since April, including shipments to India. The July figure in the table is the latest month published, so April’s 2,093 thousand barrels per day still tops every month the table lists; the Petroleum Supply Monthly that carried it was released Sept. 30, with the next due Oct. 30.

India and South Asia Pull the Cargoes

EIA names India and other South Asian countries as the particular source of growth, writing that exports rose to those markets, while buyers looked to U.S. supply to replace disrupted Middle East shipments and found U.S. propane competitively priced. The article gives no volumes for India, so the size of the South Asian increase is not broken out from the national total, and EIA presents the shift as one driver among several that also include record domestic production and a price advantage over other regions.

The Middle East link shows up in tanker-tracking data too. S&P Global Commodities at Sea figures, reported by Hellenic Shipping News, put total U.S. LPG exports, which include butane, at 3.3 million barrels a day in April, with the continued effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz cited as the cause of the extra demand. That series counts differently from EIA’s propane-only 2.1 million, so the two numbers should not be set side by side.

China moves the other way. EIA says its purchases of U.S. propane fell 28 percent in 2025 from 2024 and 19 percent in the first half of 2026 against the first half of 2025, after China imposed a 10 percent tariff in February 2025 that rose to 125 percent for April 2025 and returned to 10 percent from May 2025.

Production, Terminals and the Panama Canal

Supply is the enabling condition. EIA says U.S. propane production, a byproduct of natural gas processing and crude oil refining, is at record levels after a decade of growth in natural gas output, and that the higher production has pushed U.S. propane prices lower relative to Asia, which supports exports.

The binding limit is dock capacity. An Enterprise expansion at the Houston Ship Channel and Nederland terminals, expected to be completed this year, will add about 300,000 barrels a day of export capacity, according to EIA, which also warns that capacity limits could restrict further growth. The S&P Global tracking cited by Hellenic Shipping News lists more projects behind it: Enterprise’s Neches River terminal, rated at 360,000 barrels a day of propane, is nearing completion of its second phase, and ONEOK’s Medford fractionator, at 100,000 barrels a day, is due in the fourth quarter of 2026. EIA adds a second constraint on the route to Asia: drought tied to El Nino has lowered water levels in the Panama Canal, limiting daily transits and raising transit costs.

Domestic Propane Prices and the Winter Outlook

Domestic prices are the practical test of how much the export pull reaches American buyers, and the two EIA documents published a week apart point in different directions. The agency’s weekly heating oil and propane survey shows residential propane at $2.598 per gallon for the week of Oct. 5, up $0.181 from a year earlier, as the winter heating season begins; the survey collects residential propane and heating oil prices from October through March.

Against that, EIA’s Winter Fuels Outlook, released Oct. 6, projects household propane spending down 3 percent this winter. The projected propane price for November through March is $2.52 per gallon, 2 percent lower than last winter, and the export article does not say whether continued record shipments would move retail prices off that path.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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