No change for heating oil

30/01/2009

There has been no change to the price of heating oil during trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (January 30th).

Heating oil for February delivery remained at $1.4283 (£1) a gallon at 10:35 GMT, although there was a fractional downward trend in heating oil contracts with later expiry dates.

Prices for heating oil for delivery in March, April and June also fell marginally, May and July delivery contracts remained unchanged.

The subdued activity this morning follows marginal gains in the main heating oil contract yesterday and continues a trend of broadly stable prices for the week.

However, trading in oil has been more volatile, with the main Nymex contract on course to drop around 11 per cent over the course of the week.

Reuters reports that the falls could have been larger had concern not been raised about the possibility of a refinery strike in the US.

Such an action could have brought the production of heating oil and other derivatives to a temporary standstill, thereby encouraging demand for the commodity.