EIA residential propane, North Dakota
North Dakota propane prices: $1.70 a gallon
Latest EIA residential survey, week ending 30 March 2026, the final release of the 2025-26 heating season. Weekly updates resume in October; the wholesale benchmark below is live.
One of the longest, coldest heating seasons in the lower 48, priced near the bottom of the national table because the state makes its own propane. Bakken gas processing, storage a short truck ride away and a deep agricultural base load keep it there.
Latest EIA residential propane price
Source: EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program, North Dakota residential series. Refreshed automatically every Tuesday in season; wholesale daily.
North Dakota at a glance
Latest survey$1.70/gal
vs week before+0.9c
vs 4 weeks beforeno change
vs same week last year-10%
vs US ($2.67)36% below
Among 38 surveyed states3rd cheapest
500-gal fill (400 usable)$680
Week by week, 2025-26 season
North Dakota against the US average
Every point is an EIA survey week. This season North Dakota ran from a low of $1.44 (6 Oct) to a high of $1.71 (9 Mar), with the US average finishing at $2.67. Against the same week a year earlier it is -10%.
$1.44
Season low
6 October 2025
$1.71
Season high
9 March 2026
$1.88
Same week last year
31 March 2025, now -10%
$0.85
Wholesale today
Mont Belvieu spot, 15 September 2026, +17c vs a month ago
Source: EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program, residential propane, full-service delivery, published October to March. Wholesale is the Mont Belvieu, TX spot price; retail usually follows it by four to eight weeks, which makes it the best off-season signal of where North Dakota prices are heading.
What a fill costs in North Dakota at $1.70
Tanks fill to 80% of their stated size to leave room for expansion, so a 500-gallon tank takes about 400 gallons. The right-hand column is the difference against the same fill at the US average.
| Tank | Usable gallons | Fill at $1.70 | vs US ($2.67) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 gal | 80 gal | $136 | -$78 |
| 250 gal | 200 gal | $340 | -$195 |
| 500 gal | 400 gal | $680 | -$390 |
| 1000 gal | 800 gal | $1360 | -$779 |
A North Dakota home heating on propane through a typical winter burns 1,000 to 1,500 gallons, so fuel alone runs about $1700 to $2550 at this price, before tank rent or a service plan. The average is a benchmark, not a quote: enter your ZIP to ask up to three local dealers what they would charge you.
North Dakota against its Midwest neighbours
The cheapest Midwest cluster hugs two supply anchors: the Bakken in North Dakota and the Conway, Kansas storage hub feeding the central plains. North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota sit at the bottom of the table, while Ohio, Indiana and Michigan run higher, further from cheap NGL and carrying longer last-mile routes through more populated terrain.
| State | Price/gal | 500-gal fill | vs US ($2.67) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | $1.64 | $657 | -39% |
| Iowa | $1.66 | $664 | -38% |
| North Dakota | $1.70 | $680 | -36% |
| South Dakota | $1.84 | $736 | -31% |
| Kansas | $1.98 | $791 | -26% |
| Illinois | $2.03 | $810 | -24% |
| Minnesota | $2.06 | $822 | -23% |
| Wisconsin | $2.07 | $826 | -23% |
| Missouri | $2.21 | $884 | -17% |
| Michigan | $2.37 | $948 | -11% |
| Indiana | $2.63 | $1054 | -1% |
| Ohio | $2.69 | $1078 | +1% |
| Midwest average | $2.07 | $828 | -23% |
States marked regional est. are not surveyed individually by EIA and carry their PADD regional figure. Full table on prices by state.
Why North Dakota sits 36% under the national average
The reasons are structural and physical, not seasonal. They will not drift upward without a real shift in Bakken NGL economics or a collapse in agricultural propane demand.
In-state Bakken NGL production.
Roughly 90% of US propane comes out of natural-gas processing, and North Dakota makes its own. Bakken oil and gas development in the Williston Basin yields propane as a byproduct, and plants like the Hess-Targa Tioga Gas Plant and the ONEOK Garden Creek complex fractionate it out on site. ND retailers buy close to home, which strips out the rail-to-truck terminal margins that drive up interior-Northeast pricing.
Storage and pipelines next to demand.
The Tioga, Stanley and Watford City corridor concentrates processing, NGL pipeline injection, and rail and truck loading. Short physical distance from production to the retailer's storage keeps logistics costs low, so ND suppliers can carry cheaper wholesale through to the homeowner rather than pricing in a long freight haul.
Agricultural base load smooths routes.
North Dakota is a top-three US wheat producer and a major source of corn, soybeans and sunflowers. Grain drying after harvest creates large, predictable demand every September and October. Combined with winter heating, that gives suppliers two demand peaks instead of one and supports dense delivery routes across rural counties, spreading fixed costs over more gallons sold.
Severe cold does not break the model.
Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot see multi-week sub-zero stretches in January and February, which in theory should push prices up. It does not, much, because the production-and-ag base load is deep enough to absorb the demand spike. ND homes still burn more per year than the national norm, but the per-gallon rate stays well below average. The real winter risk here is delivery logistics in extreme cold, not price.
Buying propane well in North Dakota: the moves that decide the bill
In a cheap state the swing between a careless account and a well-run one is smaller than in the Northeast, but on a 1,200-gallon farmhouse it is still real money across a winter, and grain drying adds a trap the milder Midwest does not have.
01
Start with an established local operator
North Dakota publishes no browsable register of retail sellers and carries almost no public review base, so there is no honest ranking to give you. These are real, long-established operators worth a first call, region by region. In the Bakken oil patch: Rough Riders Propane (Williston), Lund Oil and Farmers Union Oil Co. (Watford City). Around Bismarck-Mandan: Gray Oil Co. (Mandan) and Fitterer Gas & Oil (Flasher). North-central: Farstad Oil (Minot). Red River Valley: Lakes Gas (Fargo). Northeast: Mutch Gas (Grand Forks). Details were read from company sites and public business listings in August 2026; inclusion is not an endorsement.
02
Verify by association, not a licence lookup
03
Lock summer, and beat the grain-drying bump
Wholesale bottoms in late spring, and most ND suppliers run pre-buy and cap-price enrolment May through August. The ND twist: September and October grain drying can push spot rates up 10 to 20 cents for weeks. If your tank is under 30% in September, fill before harvest demand bites. Ask for a cap-price contract that keeps the saving if wholesale falls, over a flat pre-buy.
04
Quote the local co-op against the national carrier
ND runs a two-tier market: national carriers, and the local independents and farm co-ops that dominate the oil patch and the countryside. Per-gallon spreads of 20 to 40 cents within one county are common, especially between oil-patch counties and the eastern Red River Valley. Pull one written quote from each tier, and if you own your tank, say so up front to remove the switching penalty leased-tank customers face.
05
Check ND LIHEAP eligibility
The North Dakota LIHEAP program, run by ND Health and Human Services, helps propane households at or below 60% of state median income, with no asset limit, and since 2025 it takes applications year-round rather than only in winter. Weatherization is included. Apply at hhs.nd.gov/applyforhelp, at a Human Service Zone office, or via the Customer Support Center on 1-866-614-6005.
North Dakota propane, the questions people ask
Does this page list every licensed propane dealer in North Dakota?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. North Dakota has no single public, consumer-facing per-dealer LP-gas register we can republish the way Wisconsin, Texas or Florida do, and the portfolio carries no ND dealer dataset. The North Dakota State Fire Marshal (a division of the ND Insurance Department) regulates propane bulk plant safety, storage and dispensing, enforcing NFPA 58, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, as adopted into North Dakota Administrative Code, but it does not publish a browsable list of retail propane sellers you can search by name. What we offer instead is a hand-checked call-list of real, long-established operators by region, plus the ZIP finder at /propane-prices-near-me/ and the supplier directory at /supplier/ to find companies serving your address.
Why are there no star ratings on your North Dakota dealer list?
Because there is very little to cite. North Dakota is a small, rural propane market, and across Yelp, Google, Chamber of Commerce and the BBB in August 2026, almost no ND propane operator carries a meaningful public review count. Most listings read 'be the first to review', and a handful show two or three reviews. Turning that into a ranked, star-rated best-of list would be inventing a signal that does not exist. So this page lists real operators worth a first call, region by region, and is honest that it is a starting point, not a ranking. Confirm current service and get three written quotes before you sign.
Why is propane so cheap in North Dakota?
North Dakota sits on top of one of the largest natural-gas-liquids production zones in the country. The Bakken Formation in the Williston Basin produces propane as a byproduct of the gas processing that follows oil drilling. Plants such as the Hess-Targa Tioga Gas Plant near Tioga and the ONEOK Garden Creek complex strip propane, butane and ethane out of associated gas before residue gas moves on. That in-state production, close to the customer, means ND retailers avoid the long-haul rail-to-truck terminal margins that lift Northeast pricing. The current $1.70 EIA average reflects that supply advantage, 36% below the $2.67 national mark. Add a heavy agricultural base load, where grain drying creates predictable year-round demand that supports route density, and ND lands among the cheapest states in the country for residential propane.
How much does propane cost per gallon in North Dakota?
North Dakota residential propane is $1.70 a gallon in the latest EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program release. That is 36% below the $2.67 national average, against a Midwest regional average of $2.07. That figure is the statewide retail average. What you actually pay depends on your supplier, your contract type (will-call, auto-fill, pre-buy or cap-price), where you are in the state, and whether you own or rent your tank. In the oil-patch counties (Williams, McKenzie, Mountrail, Dunn) rates can run a few cents under the state average thanks to supplier proximity to Tioga, Stanley and Watford City storage. Always get two or three written quotes before signing.
What does a full tank of propane cost in North Dakota?
At the statewide rate of $1.70 a gallon, filling a 500-gallon residential tank to its 80%-rule capacity (400 usable gallons) costs about $680.00. A 250-gallon tank fills for about $340.00, and a 1,000-gallon tank fills for about $1360.00. Tanks fill to 80% rather than 100% to leave room for thermal expansion, which is an NFPA 58 safety requirement, not a supplier markup. Large 1,000-gallon tanks are common on ND farmsteads because a single fall fill can carry a well-insulated home through a sub-zero winter without a January top-up.
Does LIHEAP help pay for propane in North Dakota?
Yes. The North Dakota Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is administered by the ND Department of Health and Human Services and helps pay for propane along with natural gas, electricity, fuel oil, coal and wood. Income eligibility is based on 60% of the North Dakota state median income, and there is no asset limit. As of 2025, ND HHS accepts regular LIHEAP applications year-round rather than only in a fixed winter window. Apply online at hhs.nd.gov/applyforhelp, at your local Human Service Zone office, or through the Customer Support Center at 1-866-614-6005. Weatherization (insulation, weather-stripping, furnace repair or replacement) is included for eligible homeowners and renters. Apply early if you can, so help is in place before peak January and February demand.
How do I verify a propane supplier in North Dakota?
North Dakota does not run a consumer-facing dealer licence you can look up by name the way Texas or Connecticut do. Regulation focuses on bulk-plant safety: the ND State Fire Marshal, a division of the ND Insurance Department, enforces NFPA 58 as adopted into ND Administrative Code and inspects aboveground LP storage and dispensing sites. For a residential customer, the practical verification routes are the North Dakota Propane Gas Association (NDPGA) member directory at ndpropane.org, the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) directory at npga.org, and asking the Fire Marshal's office whether a supplier's bulk plant is on file. Beyond that, get a written quote that itemises per-gallon price, delivery fee, tank rental, any minimum-delivery surcharge and monthly tank fee, and compare two or three before signing.
When is the cheapest time to buy propane in North Dakota, and how does grain drying change it?
Late spring through midsummer, roughly May through July. Propane follows a clear seasonal cycle: prices bottom after the heating season ends in April and before the next winter's pre-buy window opens, and peak in January and February when cold-snap demand strains regional storage. North Dakota has an extra wrinkle. In September and October, drying wheat, corn, soybeans and sunflowers creates a sharp local propane pull, and a grain operation can burn an extra 1,500 to 4,000 gallons per harvest. That demand can nudge spot rates up by 10 to 20 cents a gallon for a few weeks before the heating-season pre-buys settle. Most ND suppliers run pre-buy and cap-price enrollment from May through August. If your tank is below 30% in September, fill it before grain-drying demand bites rather than waiting for January.
Keep reading
All North Dakota dealers
North Dakota propane dealers by city and ZIP.
Dealers near you
Enter a ZIP to see the closest dealers and ask up to three for a price.
Propane prices today
The daily wholesale benchmark and the live state summer surveys.
Prices by state
All 50 states side by side, with regional context.
What a fill costs
Tank sizes, the 80% rule and the national refill guide.
How to pay less
Pre-buy timing, switching, owned versus leased tanks.
Cost calculator
Apply North Dakota pricing to your home, climate and usage profile.