US heating oil prices down for seventh consecutive week

27/11/2008

Residential heating oil prices in the US have fallen for the seventh consecutive week, new data from the Energy Information Administration has shown.

Average heating oil prices seen across the country last week stood at $2.71 (£1.75) a gallon, down 12 cents on the previous week.

Compared to figures from the same period last year, heating oil has fallen 57.7 cents, while prices have dropped 95 cents since the start of the winter heating period in October.

Reuters attributes the falls in residential heating oil to the slump in the price of crude witnessed since the summer.

On July 11th, crude traded at a record $147 a barrel, although it has now lost two-thirds of its value.

At the close of trading yesterday (November 26th), the New York Mercantile Exchange's main crude contract finished at $54.44 a barrel.

Meanwhile in trading this morning, wholesale heating oil prices opened at $1.756 a gallon.