Thursday March 15, 2007 FEATURES Leaking USTs exceed 100,000 nationwide; number expected to grow in next five years There are more than 100,000 underground storage tanks leaking fuel and awaiting cleanup of the contamination they are causing, according to a report by the federal government's General Accountability Office. And the problem is growing: 43 states expect to find 16,700 new leaks during the next five years. (Full Story) Tesco updates supply chain system as it preps for U.S. venture Tesco is in the process of upgrading its supply chain management systems to create a common model across all countries and support its move into the U.S. market, according to Computing, a U.K. publication that covers information technology. Tesco's bespoke Continuous Replenishment application monitors and controls its in-store inventory but it is updating it for rollout in its U.S. data centre, the publication reported March 13. (Full Story) Sign up for a FREE subscription to NPN, the magazine that has been reporting news and trends in the petroleum and convenience store industry since 1909. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT Get The Data That Drives The Petroleum & Convenience Industry Today! To order your print copy or CD version of the 2006 NPN MarketFacts edition, please click here NEWS ITEMS Travel Center Takes Off Highway 99 travelers have a new place where they can fill their tanks, order a mocha or take a hot shower. (Full Story) Cigarette tax increase a certainty Iowa's cigarette tax will increase by a $1 a pack, maybe as soon as April 1, after the House of Representatives approved the bill late Wednesday night, and Gov. Chet Culver said he would sign the landmark bill on Friday. (Full Story) Cigarette Tax Increase Debate Heats Up While health care advocates say the state should raise the cigarette tax as high as it can to encourage people to quit, convenience store owners told legislators last week, the proposed $1-a-pack hike is just going to drive more business over the border into New Hampshire. (Full Story) Co-op plans new convenience store The local co-op isn't just the farmers' fuel and feed store anymore. It's much more. (Full Story) U.S. urged to bury carbon dioxide from coal As pressure grows to slow global warming, the United States, the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, should become a pioneer in burying carbon dioxide output from coal-burning power plants, a study recommended. (Full Story) Pay By Touch on Course to Change the Way the World Shops Pay By Touch, the leader in biometric payments and personalized marketing, today announced that it has formed a unique partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide. (Full Story) Import Prices See Modest Increase Amid A Rebound In Petroleum Prices Wednesday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on import and export prices in the month of February, showing that import prices increased modestly after falling in the previous month while export prices showed a more notable increase. (Full Story) Shaw Group Receives Refinery Expansion Contract From Marathon Petroleum - Quick Facts Shaw Group Inc. (SGR | charts | news | PowerRating) on Wednesday said its Shaw Stone & Webster business unit received an engineering and procurement contract from Marathon Petroleum Company LLC, a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO | charts | news | PowerRating), for a 70,000 barrels per day heavy gas oil hydrocracker unit and 47,000 bpd kerosene hydrotreater unit. The value of Shaw's contract were not disclosed. (Full Story) The Sunday sales issue and the Republican conundrum After weeks of hemming and hawing, the bill to permit the Sunday sales of beer and wine in grocery stores passed through a Senate committee on Tuesday. (Full Story) The Number of U.S. Convenience Stores Increases 3.2 Percent to 145,119 Stores, According to NACS and Nielsen NACS, the association for convenience and petroleum retailing, and TDLinx, a service of The Nielsen Company, today announced that the number of convenience stores in the United States grew 3.2 percent over the past year and now stands at 145,119. (Full Story) Prices rising at gas pump Gasoline prices have gone up an average of 20 cents per gallon nationwide in the past two weeks. (Full Story) Reps kill gas zone pricing effort A bill that would ban gasoline zone pricing, an oil company practice that increased prices at certain stations such as those in lower Fairfield County, died in a legislative committee yesterday. (Full Story) Couche-Tard Reports 20% Decrease in Profit Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., which operates more than 5,000 corporate and affiliate Circle K stores across the U.S. and Canada, reported a 20% drop in profits this week. The company blames the reduced profits to a decrease in motor fuel margins. (Full Story) Inventory Levels Hold Oil Prices Down Energy prices managed to rise only marginally Wednesday after the government report showed that crude oil inventory levels rose last week but with the expected drop in gasoline in heating oil supplies, those futures contract prices only rose marginally. (Full Story) PRODUCT OF THE WEEK Blackmer LPG pumps reduce cavitation, noise, vibration Blackmer recently announced that its LGL and LG Series sliding vane pumps produce less noise and less vibration than competitive pumps, resulting in longer pump life and reduced costs. Engineered specifically for LPG/NH3 flow applications, the LGL and LG pump lines were designed for processes such as cylinder filling, motor fueling, bulk transfer, vaporizers and on bobtails and transports. Blackmer's patented cavitation suppression liners, included on 1.25- through 4-inch models, "cushion" the effects of collapsing vapor bubbles within the pump, sharply reducing the noise, vibration and wear normally caused by entrained vapors. The sudden collapse of vapor bubbles inside the pump is known as cavitation, the main cause of excess noise and added vibration in a pump. By allowing a controlled amount of fluid at discharge pressure to bleed back toward the suction of the pump, the vapor bubbles are collapsed over a longer period time. The net result is less noise, vibration and wear. Up to 12 decibels (dBA) of noise is eliminated with Blackmer LGL and LG pumps due to their cavitation suppression technology, a significant amount since the noise level of average factory machinery is 100 dBA. Available in 1- to 4-inch port sizes, with capacities range from 5 to 350 U.S. gallons per minute (19 to 1,325 lpm), all LGL and LG models are constructed with ductile iron for thermal shock resistance, low-friction ball bearings for high efficiency and quiet operation, and threaded lock collars that prevent end-thrust wear. Blackmer's LGL and LG pump technology uses a rotor with sliding vanes that draw the liquid in behind each vane, through the inlet port and into the pumping chamber. As the rotor turns, the liquid is transferred between the vanes to the outlet where it is discharged as the pumping chamber is squeezed down. Each vane provides a positive mechanical push to the liquid before it. Each revolution of a Blackmer pump displaces a constant volume of fluid. Variance in pressure has minimal effect. Energy-wasting turbulence and slippage are minimized and high volumetric efficiency is maintained, allowing the pumps to operate at lower RPMs, resulting in quieter operation. Blackmer www.blackmer.com CALENDAR OF EVENTS Car Care World Expo 2007 Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas March 25-28 (888) ICA-8422 www.carcarecentral.com NACS Leadership Challenge Paradise, Texas April 1-6 (703) 684-3600 www.nacsonline.com   NACS State of the Industry Summit Hilton Riverside New Orleans April 10-12 (703) 684-3600 www.nacsonline.com NACS Category Management Workshop-Turning Data Into Euros The Gresham Hotel Dublin April 26 (703) 684-3600 www.nacsonline.com   SIGMA 2007 Spring Convention Loews Ventana Canyon Resort Tucson, Ariz. April 26-29 (703 )709.7000 www.sigma.org 2007 Mississippi Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores Association Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa Birmingham, Ala. August 1-4 (601) 353-1624 www.mpmcsa.com   For a complete list of industry events, go to NPN's calendar web page.  Published By NPN Group |  © 2007 NPN Group | All Rights Reserved For more information on NPN MarketPulse, contact: Gary Bevers, group publisher M2MEDIA360 Retail Distribution Group Ph: 832-444-7675 Fax: 800-430-3446 Keith Reid, editor-in-chief M2MEDIA360 NPN Group Ph: 630-739-0280 Fax: 630-739-0321 This newsletter is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of M2MEDIA360.

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