We, the PPPeople (Part 2)

by Samuel Diamond

An update on industry participation in the Paycheck Protection Program

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was established in March 2020 to incentivize small businesses to keep workers on payroll and/or rehire those who’d been laid off or furloughed due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Borrowers could also use up to 40 percent of their PPP loan to cover certain non-payroll expenses.

Though the first funds were quickly depleted, the program was later extended and expanded, allowing more companies to participate and also giving previously approved borrowers the opportunity to apply for “second draw” loans. Under the expanded program, borrowers could use up to 40 percent of their PPP loan to cover any or all of the following non-payroll expenses: mortgage interest, rent, utilities, worker protection costs related to COVID-19, uninsured property damage costs caused by looting or vandalism during 2020, and certain supplier costs and expenses for operations.

While the first round of PPP loans were generally open to any company with fewer than 500 employees, the second round of funding prioritized businesses with 300 or fewer employees. Sole proprietorships, independent contractors, and the self-employed were eligible for the program under both rounds of funding.

In our September 2020 issue, Oil & Energy ran an article on liquid heating fuel and equipment businesses’ participation in the PPP, titled “We, the PPPeople.” That article was based on data disclosed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which, at the time, only included information on approved loans of $150,000 or more. Loan forgiveness amounts were also not included as SBA did not begin approving forgiveness applications until October 2, 2020.

Though the PPP ended on May 31, 2021, SBA is still accepting applications for loan forgiveness. Additionally, SBA has made more PPP loan data public throughout the year, including information on all approved loans of up to $150,000 or more.¹ The latest update was posted July 1, 2021 and included data for all (first- and second-draw) loans and forgiveness applications approved through June 30. Oil & Energy has conducted a survey of this data, extracting the listings of all liquid heating fuel businesses that participated over the life of the program. This survey provided several key data points, which are available here as a follow-up to our September 2020 article.

National Overview

According to our survey, 3,787 loans have been issued to liquid heating fuel and equipment businesses (2,866 first round, 921 second round), and 2,228 have been at least partially forgiven.² These companies operate in states across the U.S. They sell a range of products, including but not limited to renewable liquid heating fuel, heating oil, biodiesel, propane, gasoline and HVAC equipment. All told, these companies have retained anywhere from 1 to 475 jobs. Of the 3,787 PPP loans issued to liquid heating fuel and equipment businesses:

Loan Amounts

• 30 were for $2 million to $5 million
• 65 were for $1 million to $2 million
• 38 were for $750,000 to $1 million
• 131 were for $500,000 to $750,000
• 95 were for $400,000 to $500,000
• 134 were for $300,000 to $400,000
• 266 were for $200,000 to $300,000
• 614 were for $100,000 to $200,000
• 784 were for $50,000 to $100,000
• 1,630 were for $1 to $50,000
• The average loan was for $163,061.15
• The median loan was for $62,837

Loan Forgiveness

• 13 were forgiven for $2 million to $5 million
• 37 were forgiven for $1 million to $2 million
• 21 were forgiven for $750,000 to $1 million
• 76 were forgiven for $500,000 to $750,000
• 65 were forgiven for $400,000 to $500,000
• 99 were forgiven for $300,000 to $400,000
• 162 were forgiven for $200,000 to $300,000
• 388 were forgiven for $100,000 to $200,000
• 486 were forgiven for $50,000 to $100,000
• 881 were forgiven for $1 to $50,000
• The average amount forgiven was $164,094.06
• The median amount forgiven was $69,998.67

Jobs Retained

• 86 went to companies with 100 to 475 employees
• 134 went to companies with 50 to 99 employees
• 311 went to companies with 25 to 49 employees
• 815 went to companies with 11 to 24 employees
• 2,441 went to companies with 1 to 10 employees
• The average number of jobs retained was 15.6
• The median number of jobs retained was 7

Home States

• 229 were issued in Connecticut (174 first round, 55 second)
• 324 were issued in Massachusetts (230 first round, 94 second)
• 114 were issued in Maine (88 first round, 26 second)
• 66 were issued in New Hampshire (49 first round, 17 second)
• 137 were issued in New Jersey (94 first round, 43 second)
• 423 were issued in New York (310 first round, 113 second)
• 294 were issued in Pennsylvania (213 first round, 81 second)
• 66 were issued in Rhode Island (48 first round, 18 second)
• 59 were issued in Vermont (45 first round, 14 second)
• 1,728 were issued within in the nine-state Northeast (New England, NY, PA and NJ)
• 2,059 were issued outside the nine-state Northeast³

¹ SBA Paycheck Protection Program Loan Level Data is available online at https://data.sba.gov/dataset/ppp-foia.
² These totals were arrived at by searching disclosed loan data for NAICS Code 454310, the designation for both heating oil and propane sellers among other Fuel Dealers.
³ These companies were mostly propane dealers; see footnotes above for further context.

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