60 posts written by Andrew Higgins.

It was widely reported in the press before Christmas that heating oil prices had fallen to an eight-year low in Ulster, despite an upsurge in demand following the recent cold spell, which saw snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures throughout the province and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The Belfast Telegraph reports that the average price of 900 litres of the fuel has been halved to roughly £250… Read more

The fluctuations of the international oil market are never far from the news, and their contribution to low domestic oil prices is well understood. In recent months, however, they have been affected by low demand for heating fuel, as much of the northern hemisphere has experienced unusually mild weather. The Weather and Heating Oil The unpredictability of the weather in the United Kingdom is, of c… Read more

Mark Twain famously said that “climate is what we expect, weather is what we get”. To no country on earth could this apply more accurately than the United Kingdom, where we experience wildly variable weather conditions but where, paradoxically, we have a touching faith in the powers of forecasters when they tell us what to expect. Given how useful being armed with intelligence about th… Read more

The international oil markets remain volatile, and analysts predict that the uncertainty will persist for many months to come. The underlying reasons for the market fluctuations have been examined at length by the media and business commentators, and the central issue remains weak demand coupled with over-production in many oil-exporting countries. The volatility naturally affects large corporatio… Read more

When considering methods of heating homes, there is perhaps the temptation to think only in terms of electricity and gas, especially outside of more remote rural areas. There are, however, many clear advantages to be gained from using heating oil, which can be a cost-effective and highly efficient way of heating your home. What Is Heating Oil? It is a product obtained from crude oil by a technical… Read more

Predicting upcoming patterns in domestic heating oil prices is a notoriously challenging task. This difficulty is currently being compounded by various global geopolitical factors and a general oil market which is, to say the least, unstable. There is currently little consensus among market analysts, who point out that recent increases in oil prices have tended to be temporary. Some commentators r… Read more

News for heating oil users: The UK could be set for one of the coldest winters on record. Although we see reports like this quite often, there seems to be quite a bit of backing for reports that this Winter could be a cold one, with the MET Office also suggesting that it could be a cold winter. The Telegraph are reporting that: “Britain braced for long, snowy winter as strongest El Nino sin… Read more

So far, 2015 has seen oil prices plunge significantly against 2014 prices and lows of around $45 per barrel were reached in January 2015. Oil Prices then stabilised at around $55 – 60 per barrel from February – May 2015. Since then however, prices have been declining again and at the time of writing are just below $45 per barrel – 6 ½ year lows. These lower prices are great news for our cus… Read more

As many heating oil users will know, heating oil prices hit a 5 year low in January 2015, with prices reaching around $45 per barrel, falling from around $120 per barrel in the previous summer – great news for our heating oil customers. Prices tumbled due to a number of reasons, but in particular, fracking carried out across the US massively increased supplies.  Despite these increased supplies… Read more

Good news for heating oil users has continued throughout November 2014 as heating oil prices declined by almost 10% from the beginning of the month.  In some areas of the UK 900 litres is now below £400 – a significant decrease, especially when the price has fallen from over £500 at the same time last year. There are a number of factors which have resulted in falling prices and we examine… Read more