Heating oil costs up on hurricane fear

The price of heating oil went higher today as the cost of crude oil rose ahead of the tropical storm Gustav that is moving towards the Gulf of Mexico. Several firms are evacuating staff from oil rigs as a precautionary measure.

The Gulf has many off shore installations and these could be badly affected if Gustav is as strong as feared.

Oil was over $119 a barrel in London on Wednesday and the price stayed strong; partly on unexpected figures from the USA showing that crude stockpiles fell by some 100,000 barrels last week, at a time when analysts were expecting them to go up. Not unsurprisingly, the reserves of heating oil stayed static, but there again it would. Who in the northern hemisphere is using heating oil at this time of year?

Those concerned about saving on heating costs should consider installing a HeatingSave boiler control system. This could save around 15% to 30% on fuel usage and hence reduce the cost of heating bills. The Heating Save system usually takes less than a day to install, so there is no panic yet as you can install one in October — just in time for when you switch on your oil fired central heating system.