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Price of Oil

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Noticing a little relief at the pumps, that relief could be coming to your heating bill too.


those of us that are hoping that this winter will be warmer than last year, are in for another freezing, snowy winter. This would lead most of us to believe that we're going to have huge heating bills to following, for you oil heat customers that might not be the case.


Here in New England we have the highest population of home owners that heat using oil, while 50% of the nation uses Natural Gas, 5% use Oil. The rest of the country is mixed between solar, propane, electric, and other.

Over the past couple of months the price of gasoline at the pumps has been going down, along with any deliveries you may have gotten heading into the season. This is partially due to the demand for oil heated home declining over the years as more homes go to Natural Gas. As this shift continues the price of oil will decline while the problems with natural gas will continue (more on that later). It's a classic situation of supply and demand, as the US oil production boom continues to flood the market and more homes make the switch the Natural Gas, Oil will become cheaper than Natural Gas forcing a shift back to Oil heat.

Natural Gas right now is all the rage, with Government incentives and rebates ranging in the several thousands of dollars.  However the price of Natural Gas is projected to raise this year and supply issues will still affect the North East. Last year when we had one of the coldest winters on record the aging natural gas infrastructure couldn't keep up with the demand. This didn't just affect the price of natural gas but also affected the price of electricity.

The supply chain to get natural gas hasn't been updated or redone in decades and continues to leak Natural Gas due to shifting in the soil.  The pipes are so too small down the chain to supply to the correct amount of natural gas during those sub-zero days and nights when we really need the heat.

As the price of oil continues to drop and the price of natural gas continues to raise, it might make more sense to stick with oil to heat with this winter. Plus oil burns twice as well as natural gas and doesn't contribute as much to greenhouse gases.

by:
Robert Stahelski
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