US Heating Oil Supplies at Highest Levels in 27 Years
Supplies of distillates in the US have reached their highest level in 27 years. (image: hourlyjuice.com)
Since the beginning of last heating season, huge supplies and low demand have been the norm on the heating oil market. These fundamental forces should have brought extremely low heating oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the last year or so, even during the winter. But other factors like the strength of the US dollar and ups and down on American stock markets brought on the same unpredictable swings in heating oil prices that might be expected under a different supply and demand picture.
This week, however, supply and demand have come roaring back to the heating oil markets. According to Bloomberg News, Wednesday’s Energy Information Administration petroleum inventory report tallied distillate inventories, a category that includes heating oil and diesel fuel, at 173.1 million barrels, 3.46 million barrels higher than the previous week’s total and the highest supply level since January of 1983.
The biggest supplies of heating oil in 27 years, combined with stock market losses and high unemployment that point to continuing low demand have driven the price of heating oil down by 15 cents a gallon in the last three days, and falling. As one analyst put it, the market is (at least for now) coming to its senses:
“The weekly jobless numbers were disastrous and sent the market lower,” said Phil Flynn, vice president of research at PFGBest in Chicago. “The oil market is facing the reality, which is that supplies exceed demand. The only thing that was supporting prices was a false sense of economic security.”
Tumbling oil prices are always good news for heating oil users, and big supplies and small demand will likely stick around until at least this fall, when cold weather begins to drive demand and prices up. But as any oil price-watcher has learned, sanity in the market rarely lasts long, which means heating oil is just one big stock market day or Middle Eastern diplomatic crisis away from a 15-cent-per-gallon increase. For now, let’s all sit back and bask in the market’s soothing rationality and the cozy lower prices that it brings.
Heating Oil Users in Fairbanks, AK Cut Consumption by 25% in 4 Years
The northern lights over a cabin in conservation-minded Fairbanks, Alaska. (image: alaska-in-pictures.com)
An recent editorial in Fairbanks, Alaska’s local paper the Daily News-Miner congratulates the community on an impressive feat of conservation: reducing heating oil consumption by 25 percent in just four years.
The editorial cited a survey that found average per-season heating oil consumption in Fairbanks fell from 1,099 gallons per household in 2006 to 818 gallons last winter. Additional information about exactly how heating oil users managed to burn so much less was apparently not included in the survey, but the News-Miner article made a good guess:
Cutting usage by that much requires a more efficient furnace, a cheaper alternative heat source, more insulation, better windows, fewer air leaks or significant changes in behavior—or some combination of all of the above.
Some of the reduction can be attributed to homeowners burning more wood, but wood heat users in Fairbanks only increased by 7 percent over the last four years, according to the survey. So it seems that basic conservation methods (like the ones described in our in-depth article on energy-saving DIY improvements) adopted by a motivated community really paid off. Alaska’s extreme cold, the 2008 price spike, and generous home energy retrofit program offered by the state all played roles in the remarkable success. But even without those additional factors, any community in the Northeast or the rest of the country could achieve the same energy-saving triumph.
Fairbanks, Alaska: another energy conservation success story that’s inspiration to heating oil users across America.
HeatingOil.com at AREE: RW Beckett’s Aquasmart Boiler Temperature Control
Beckett's Aquasmart boiler temperature control. (image: beckettcorp.com)
Every heating oil user wants to use less oil. A gallon of heating oil saved is a dollar (or two or three) saved. In addition to weatherization and utilization of a programmable thermostat, adjusting oil heat systems to burn oil at the lowest possible temperature saves fuel and helps lower heating oil bills.
At the AREE trade show, Jonathan Beckett of RW Beckett walked HeatingOil.com through a product that does just that. Beckett’s Aquasmart boiler temperature control measures the demand on the heating system as it rises and falls with the seasons. In the winter, the control raises the boiler temperature to ensure enough heat is produced to make hot water and keep the home warm. In the summer, the system detects lower demand and reduces the internal boiler temperature to a level that’s adequate to heat water without burning additional fuel to heat the home. The Beckett Aquasmart is available for purchase and installation through heating oil dealers.
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Weatherization Yielded Huge Heating Oil Savings, VT Principal Says
Rumney Memorial School principal Adam Rosen (shown reading to third- and fourth-graders) discovered the benefits of energy audits and weatherization first hand. (image: rumney.org)
From President Obama to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, many high-profile individuals and institutions have recently touted the energy-saving benefits of weatherization. The simple and inexpensive process of sealing up a house or other structure to ensure it stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer, if done correctly, can seriously reduce energy use and provide huge cost savings just a year after weatherization improvements are made. But should we take politicians’ and bureaucrats’ word on this issue? What do ordinary Americans have to say about weatherization?
To find out, one need look no further than an opinion piece published Tuesday on the Vermont news blog vtdigger.org. Under the straightforward headline “Rumney School used half as much fuel this year because of weatherization,” Principal Adam Rosen of Rumney Memorial School in Middlesex, VT described how a two-day weatherization project at the school led directly to huge savings on heating oil.
Last summer, the elementary school received a grant from the state’s Department of Natural Resources and began the weatherization process. The first step was an energy audit in which technicians examined the school building and identified the best ways to maximize its energy efficiency. Next, “with help from over a dozen hard working local volunteers, in two long days,” energy technicians installed attic insulation and sealed air leaks throughout the building to ensure that temperature-controlled air would stay inside the building and outside air wouldn’t get in.
Finally, the school (without the aid of a grant from the state government) invested in a comprehensive cleaning and tune-up of its oil-fired boiler and heating system: “[HVAC technicians] made suggestions beyond the routine annual boiler cleaning. We repaired thermostats and cleaned the dust off our radiator fins.”
Nine months later, the result of Rumney School’s investments couldn’t be more positive, as Rosen explained:
I had us bid on 6,500 gallons of home heating oil. Well, if we’d had a bone-chilling cold winter, we might have needed that much—as it was, we purchased less than 4,900 gallons of oil, and are going into the spring with a nearly 3,200 gallons in the 5,000 gallon tank. Air-sealing, followed by insulating and boiler maintenance paid off and the school benefited beyond any of our expectations: this year at Rumney Memorial School we used a little more than half the fuel that we used in previous years!
A school that had previously purchased 10,000 gallons of heating oil for one heating season bought just 4,900 gallons and has several thousand gallons left over for next year.
The lesson for heating oil users (and users of other heating fuels as well) is clear: weatherization works! Investing a few hundred dollars in a professional energy audit and appropriate improvements will save you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars on heating and cooling bills over the future years and decades you spend in your home. Even if you move out of your energy-efficient home, the improvements you invested in will raise its market value. Plus, federal and state grants, incentives and tax breaks can help reduce up-front investment in audits and home improvements to increase savings even more. And let’s not forget the environmental benefits of home energy efficiency; using less energy means decreased consumption of fossil fuels and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy audits, insulation upgrades, and well-placed caulking are deceptive in their simplicity, but have proven to be astoundingly good investments for those who do them right. So if you’re looking to save some money on your heating oil and electricity bills, the time to invest in a professional energy audit and home energy improvements is now. Given the chance, President Obama, Secretary Chu, and Principal Rosen would all give you a hearty pat on the back for your decision.
Low-Sulfur Heating Oil Becomes the Law in Maine
On Monday, Gov. Baldacci’s signature put Maine on the path to low-sulfur heating oil. (image: maineinsights.com)
On Monday, Gov. John Baldacci signed into law a bill that would lower the sulfur content of home heating oil in Maine, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The bill would require heating oil to contain no more than 0.05 percent sulfur by weight starting January 1, 2014, and no more than 0.0015 percent by weight—the same sulfur content as ultra low-sulfur diesel—starting January 1, 2018. Maine’s House of Representatives and Senate approved the bill in the last week of March.
Though the bill’s original inspiration sprung from a desire to protect the air in Maine’s Acadia National Park, the governor cited statewide health benefits of the bill as a key factor in his decision:
The resulting cleaner air is good news for all Maine citizens. This is especially beneficial for populations most susceptible to health issues caused by pollution: the young, elderly, asthmatics, and those who have lung or heart problems. Regional health impact studies have suggested that Maine can save nearly $150 million in avoided health costs associated with the implementation of this program.
Legislatures across the Northeast are considering similar bills that would make heating oil a cleaner and greener heating fuel by reducing its sulfur content, adding biodiesel to home heating oil, or both. Maine’s bill, unlike proposals in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, does not require that heating oil be blended with biodiesel.
Low-sulfur heating oil won’t just bring health and environmental benefits to Maine; individual heating oil consumers will see better performance from their heating systems because a low-sulfur fuel burns more efficiently and cleaner, which means that heating systems will require less maintenance. That’s why the Maine Energy Marketers Association—an industry group composed of heating oil, propane, and other energy dealers—joined groups like the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Maine Chapter of the National Lung Association to support the new low-sulfur standard for heating oil.
Obama Hails Heating Oil as Solution to US Energy Problems, Converts White House to Oilheat System
"The future of US energy is heating oil," said Pres. Obama to a rapt audience on the grounds of a NJ heating oil storage facility. (image: Nicholas Whitaker via heatingoil.com)
After yesterday’s announcement that the US would expand offshore oil drilling, President Barack Obama dropped another bombshell on the energy world by calling heating oil “the key to America’s future” and pledging to bring heating oil to 10 million more American homes by 2014. To demonstrate his determination on this score, Pres. Obama will be converting the White House to a heating oil system, and dug up the Rose Garden to install a brand-new, 1,000-gallon home heating oil tank. President Obama announced his ambitious plan at a heating oil storage facility in Landon, New Jersey.
As crowds cheered, the President explained the importance of heating oil:
We cannot afford to delay one more day in bringing the citizens of this country the safe, reliable, and affordable heating fuel they deserve. For too long this advance has been held up the partisan squabbles of the past—the time has come to move forward. Heating oil’s high efficiency, low emissions that are getting lower each year, and clear path to 100 percent renewable biodiesel content make it the finest heating fuel in the land. All of America deserves this fuel. We’re starting at the White House, but we’re on our way to your house!
The announcement provoked some flutter in the financial press, as journalists struggled to piece together how heating oil, a close cousin of “oil” oil, was producing so much activity on the trading floor, outperforming metals, gasoline, and crude. Searching for an industry expert willing to explain the frenzy, Bloomberg news could only find the Maine Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security:
In Maine, the President’s comments have created a phenomenon. Following the president’s announcement, our office has been flooded with calls from Mainers eager to switch to heating oil for their home heating needs. The excitement has unfortunately led to some unlawful activity in southern Maine, where a band of heating oil marauders is performing involuntary repairs on tanker trucks carrying diesel fuel, flooding the local market with supplies of no.2 oil.
President Obama’s announcement came as surprise to many Americans—especially residents of the West coast and South. Puzzled viewers of the president’s speech in those regions turned to the internet to find out what heating oil is, making “what is heating oil?” the most-searched phrase on Google’s US search engine.
The craze swept the nation in record time, with some citizens driven by their enthusiasm to begin clearing space in their basements and garages on Thursday afternoon to make room for a new heating oil tank.
Following his prepared remarks, the president took questions from the press, and offered some details of how his program, dubbed “Making America Cozier with Oil Heat.” Private citizens will be rewarded with rebates worth 40 percent of the cost of their new oil heat system, including tank and furnace or boiler. New users of heating oil will also receive their first fill-up of the fuel for free, thanks to a cooperative subsidy program administered through the Department of Energy and local state oil dealer associations.
Reached for comment on Air Force One after his speech, the president told HeatingOil.com, “I’m fired up to get more people on board with this great fuel, and I’ll need your help to do it. Keep the good work, and spread the word!”
Clean Heating Oil Bill Advances in CT Assembly
Connecticut’s General Assembly will soon vote on implementing requirements to make the state’s heating oil cleaner burning and more efficient. (image: cga.ct.gov)
In January, the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association (ICPA) helped introduce a bill in the state legislature that would mandate cleaner heating oil over the next four years. On Wednesday, the bill (S.B. 382, find the full text on the Connecticut Assembly’s website) made important progress toward final passage with an endorsement from the State Senate’s Environment Committee, by a vote of 23-2. The bill, aptly titled “An Act Requiring Biodiesel Blended Heating Oil and Lowering the Sulfur Content of Heating Oil Sold in the State,” would require heating oil sold in Connecticut to contain no more than 15 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur by 2014 and no less than 20 percent biodiesel by 2020. Following the favorable vote from the Environment Committee, the bill now moves on to the Legislative Commissioners’ Office, where the text will be legally analyzed and clarified en route to a vote by the full Senate.
Like similar bills under consideration in other Northeastern states, the Connecticut bill receives the ardent support of the heating oil industry, led by the ICPA. Industry representatives cite increased fuel efficiency, cleaner heating systems, fewer emissions, and renewable sources of biodiesel as the benefits producers, vendors, and consumers of heating oil would reap from region-wide mandates for low sulfur and biofuel blends.
Check back with HeatingOil.com for progress reports on the Connecticut low-sulfur/biodiesel heating oil bill, as well as its counterparts in other states like New York, New Jersey, and Maine.
This Week in Heating Oil March 19: Low Sulfur Heating Oil
Sulfur, in its natural state, makes a pretty gemstone. In heating oil, however, it is the source of unwanted emissions. (image: geocities.jp)
On Wednesday, the presidents of the American Lung Association in New York and the Oil Heating Association of New York wrote an opinion piece in the Buffalo News urging New York State senators to pass an important heating oil bill. The bill they support, S1145c/A10108 would require all heating oil sold in the state to contain just 15 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur in the next few years. Most heating oil sold in the Notheast currently contains between 2,000 and 3,000 ppm of sulfur. The major reduction in sulfur content, according to the bill’s supporters, would cut down on greenhouse gas and particulate emissions from heating oil furnaces and boilers, bringing positive health and environmental effects. New York is just one of several Northeastern states, including Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey currently considering low-sulfur mandates for heating oil.
The authors of the opinion piece also touted the cost savings low-sulfur heating oil would deliver to heating oil users. Cleaner heating oil means less accumulation of impurities in heating systems, which means less system maintenance. And because low-sulfur heating oil is a more efficient fuel, users will get more heat per gallon and need to purchase less oil.
With clear health, economic, and environmental benefits, it’s easy to see why the unexpected pair of executives are united in their support of low-sulfur heating oil requirements. And it’s easy to see why most heating oil users would agree with them.
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Representatives of Heating Oil Industry and American Lung Association Team Up to Urge Passage of Low-Sulfur Mandate by NY Senate
The American Lung association in New York and the New York Oil Heating Council have teamed up to support a bill that would lower the sulfur content of heating oil in New York state. (image: nyoha.org and lungusa.org)
An opinion piece published on Wednesday by the Buffalo News encourages the New York State Senate to pass a pending bill that would lower the sulfur levels in home heating oil. The article’s two authors are an unlikely pair: the CEO of the New York Oil Heating Association, John Maniscalco, and the CEO of the American Lung Association in New York, Scott Santarella.
The article is short and to the point, and makes a case for the Senate to take action on the bill immediately, citing the reduction of particulate and greenhouse gas emissions:
The sulfur content permitted in heating oil in New York State is up to 15,000 parts per million, or about 1,000 times the amount allowed in diesel fuel for vehicles. Requiring a shift to the ultra-low sulfur heating oil would reduce sulfur by 99 percent. That is the equivalent to shutting down 2 ½ coal-fired generating plants in the state, and would dramatically reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides—key ingredients in the formation of smog—by as much as 30 percent.
The authors also cite the health and environmental benefits of reducing heating oil’s sulfur content that would come in the form of reduced sulfur dioxide emissions, which qualify as particulate emissions. The article goes on to argue that the diverse coalition in favor of the bill, which includes environmental and labor groups along with the heating oil industry, speaks to its broad appeal and overwhelmingly positive impact.
Speaking on behalf of the consumer, the article foresees cost savings, a smaller carbon footprint, and better quality heating for users of low-sulfur diesel:
Since ultra-low sulfur heating oil burns more efficiently and is readily available, the industry expects there could be as much as a $40 million annual savings from lower maintenance costs and as much as a 4 percent savings per household in equipment efficiencies. In addition, it makes heating oil on par with natural gas in environmental pedigree.
The bill the authors support, S1145c/A10108 was passed by the New York Assembly in June of last year, by a vote of 146-1. Since then, the bill has been the subject of sporadic debate while the Senate has considered it. Opponents of the bill are primarily business interests and petroleum refiners. The New York State Business Council has stated its belief that “this measure will increase prices on oil providers who will be forced to make major capital investments to meet the requirements of this bill. These costs will ultimately get passed on to consumers.”
The bill is one of several pieces of pending legislation on low-sulfur heating oil in Northeastern states, including Maine and New Jersey. Along similar lines, the City of New York announced an initiative to phase out use of high-sulfur and high-particulate residual fuels, known as nos. 4 and 6 heating oil.
The heating oil industry throughout the Northeast has been consistent in its support of legal action to require cleaner heating oil wherever possible. Industry representatives such as Gene Guilford of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association have called for consistent low-sulfur requirements across state lines to ensure smooth transition to lower-sulfur heating oil for refiners and wholesale suppliers.
With low-sulfur legislation making its way through the statehouses in many of the biggest heating oil-using states, those consistent regulations could soon become a reality.
Heating Oil Weekly Roundup: Mysteries of Energy Savings, Delahunt Retires, and Crustacean Biofuels
Conserving energy saves money—so why don't we do it? (image: about.com)
There are lots of things we can do to save energy, which means saving money. For example, I could unplug my cell phone charger when I’m not using it, because it continues to drain electricity when it’s plugged in. But I don’t. Why is that? NPR’s Ira Flatow talked with Dr. Hunt Allcott, an economics professor at New York University, about how behavioral economics can help answer that question. Flatow asked if maybe we were “just stupid.” Allcott said we faced “a lot of complex decisions.” Yeah, complex—I’ll go with that answer.
If you’ve made the complex decision to improve the energy efficiency of your home and you want to go beyond weatherstripping, perhaps a “deep energy retrofit” is right for you. At CNET’s Green Tech blog, Martin LaMonica talks about the pioneering efforts of some contractors who have cut energy costs by some 50 to 70 percent. Not for the faint of heart (or bank account), such renovation is extensive and can cost tens of thousands of dollars. But it will leave you with “superinsulation,” which I assume means your new insulation will be able to fight crime.
Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) plans to retire, and an editorial in the Boston Globe said he had made a “wise” decision to opt for a long retirement over what would have been a difficult campaign this November. Delahunt is perhaps best known for his role in negotiations with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to get discounted heating oil for low-income residents of Massachusetts. Potential opponents were likely to score points by emphasizing Delahunt’s connections with the anti-American Chavez, but many in Massachusetts remain grateful for his work to secure heating oil for those in need.
Every advance biofuels researchers make seems to bring science fiction closer to life. Now scientists in the United Kingdom have announced that the “Gribble worm” is especially good at converting wood into sugar, which could make the crustacean a key player in producing cellulosic ethanol, reported Joshua Kagan at Greentech Media. That would be more productive than the activity that it’s currently known for, which is eating away the hulls of ships.
Cheated CT Heating Oil Customers One Step Closer to Repayment
Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal says the state picked a claims administrator to pay back defrauded heating oil consumers. (image: politico.com)
It’s been nearly two years since F&S Oil, a heating oil company in Waterbury, CT, closed without warning and left 2,500 customers who had prepaid for their heating oil empty-handed. On Wednesday Waterbury’s Republican-American reported that the state of Connecticut has made further progress in securing restitution for those customers.
According to Connecticut’s attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, the state has selected a professional claims administrator to manage the process of reviewing claims and issuing payment to affected customers. The move came after a judge for the Hartford Superior Court approved a settlement with F&S Oil, proposed by Blumenthal in December, that allocated $1 million dollars for distribution to F&S Oil’s pre-buy customers.
Customers with pre-buy contracts lost much more than $1 million—the total value of the unfilled contracts was closer to $3.4 million—so any restitution will only be partial. A court-appointed receiver raised a total of $2.5 million by selling off F&S Oil’s assets, but because F&S Oil owed substantial sums to suppliers, vendors, and its employees, only a portion of the money raised could be issued to heating oil customers.
Spilled Heating Oil Helps Extinguish House Fire in Maine
Firefighters were called to put out the fire, but home heating oil—ironically, dumped to add to the fire—had already worked to contain the blaze. (image: blog.mlive.com)
Authorities allege that a Mount Vernon man tried to burn down his house, setting alight what Sgt. Ken Grimes of the State Fire Marshal’s Office called “some ordinary combustibles,” and then cutting the filter from the tank in his basement to empty out the heating oil and transform the small blaze into a conflagration. But as the Kennebec Journal reported on Saturday, his hopes were dashed when the heating oil, rather than igniting, actually helped to put out the flames.
Heywood Hinds, now charged with arson and criminal threatening, allegedly set the fire after police came to his home in response to a report of domestic violence. However, Hinds’s plan (such as it was) failed because he didn’t fully understand how his home heating system worked.
Though heating oil is burned in order to heat your home, it is not easily combustible in its liquid state. If a lit match were dropped into heating oil, it would simply go out. To get heating oil to ignite, home heating systems must first vaporize heating oil in a combustion chamber. Only when the heating oil vapor is mixed with air in the right proportions does it burn efficiently, or at all. Hinds’s heating system, like all oil heating systems, was much safer than he realized.
Shortly after the fire was started, Hinds came out of the house and surrendered to police. He was treated for smoke inhalation. The house itself sustained only minor damage and, according to Sgt. Grimes, is “certainly repairable.”
Record Heating Assistance Applications Foreshadow Residential Fuel Crisis
Thermal image of a (heated) house on a cold night. A federal program's temporary termination would cause the number of homes without heat to grow considerably. (image: epogee.co.uk)
As reported Monday by the New York Times, applications for heating assistance in the United States have reached record levels for the third consecutive year. Soaring demand for federal heating assistance has forced states to scrape the bottom of the $5.1 billion federal heating assistance program known as LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program). That sum, allocated by Congress to be spread out among every state, has not budged from its 2008 levels despite the past year’s increase of over one million applicants. The pressure has led state officials to warn Congress that they may have to discontinue further heating grants if no more money is awarded to the program.
Utility companies, barred in many states from shutting down service during the winter, wait until the spring to sever connections to households with unpaid bills. Until receiving the backlog of payments, they will then wait indefinitely before again providing heat, even as winter returns. Despite the staggered sequence of this scenario, when coupled with the millions of jobless who will see their unemployment checks expire this April, it means that untold numbers will be faced with no gas and electricity during the spring and coming winter.
The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS), unsurprisingly, puts the matter in starker terms than the New York Times, calling the need for heating assistance a “social crisis mounting.” Though it strikes a disarming tone for readers unused to getting news from sites devoted to social revolution, that strong wording attaches a proper weight to the underreported impact of energy prices on struggling Americans.
Markey Receives Award for Heating Assistance Advocacy
Representative Markey receives his award from NEADA Executive Director Mark Wolfe. (image: markey.house.gov)
On Tuesday, Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) received an award for his continued support of government heating assistance through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the Belmont Citizen-Herald reported. Markey’s award came from the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA), a private organization that bills itself as “the primary educational and policy organization for the state and tribal directors of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).”
As the representative for a heating oil-dependent and populous cold-weather state, Markey has long been a champion of LIHEAP. Most recently, he sponsored the Energy Assistance for American Families Act, which would increase LIHEAP funding from 2011 to 2014 and expand the program to make more Americans eligible to receive help with their heating costs. The bill has not yet been brought to a vote in either house of Congress. Speaking at an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., Markey stressed the widespread need for heating assistance in the Northeast this season: Read More »
More Empty Heating Oil Tanks and Angry Customers in Central PA
Heating oil company S.T.S. Discount Oil in Tamaqua, PA has been shorting customers. (image: maps.google.com)
Like pre-buy customers of Flynn’s Oil in New Hampshire and Able Energy in New Jersey, patrons of S.T.S. Discount Oil Co. in Central Pennsylvania have reportedly not been receiving all of the heating oil they pre-bought. According to Paul Muschick’s Sunday “Watchdog” column in the Lehigh Valley’s Morning Call, several pre-buy customers of S.T.S. have received inadequate deliveries of oil and cannot reach S.T.S. representatives by phone.
The common pattern in the handful of cases described in the Morning Call goes like this: customers pay up front for several hundred gallons (1,000 gallons in one case) of heating oil, receive piecemeal deliveries of 100 gallons or less when their tanks are running low, and are unable to get in touch with anyone at S.T.S. to request a larger delivery. Some of the customers reported owner and operator Scott Steffy making promises of future deliveries that never came. One customer, whose grievance goes back to July of 2008, reported, ‘‘[t]he promises I got from that man [were] unbelievable.”
Sinking Heating Oil Demand in US Looks Like Permanent Trend
Higher efficiency burners and boilers, like this model that boasts an AFUE rating of 95.5, have contributed to lower heating oil demand in the US. (image: redmonheating.com)
Stepped-up conservation efforts by US heating oil users, supported by recent government initiatives, have curbed heating oil demand in the last year—a trend that will likely continue permanently, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
In the 35 years leading up to 2008, heating oil demand declined steadily as increasing numbers of heating oil users switched to other fuels like natural gas. But the rate of converting away from heating oil slowed in 2008: according to the US Census, 320,000 US households switched to natural gas in 2005, but only 52,000 converted in 2008.
But that slowing in conversion away from heating oil has recently been compensated for by conservation efforts by heating oil users. Since the recession began, millions of Americans have dialed back their thermostats with the goal of lowering their heating bills. It’s difficult to determine how much this financially-driven conservation trend has contributed to lowering demand in recent years, but Shane Sweet of the New England Fuel Institute, for one, believes the trend is here to stay. “There have been a lot of conservation measures that wiped away gallons. That is demand we will never get back,” Sweet told Reuters. Besides individual conservation, demand for heating oil has also been cut back by increasingly efficient burners and boilers, as well as a federal programs to fund home energy audits and weatherization improvements included in President Obama’s Recovery Act.
Citizens Energy Heating Oil Program Could Be Focus of MA Congressional Race
Ties between Venezeulan president Hugo Chavez (left) and Rep. William Delahunt could be at the center of an upcoming congressional campaign. (image:heraldinteractive.com)
Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) told the Boston Globe that he may retire from his congressional seat, but potential challengers are still preparing to campaign against him, and have raised concerns about Delahunt’s role in programs that distribute free or discounted heating oil to low-income households in Massachusetts.
The controversy arises from Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s role in all of this. In 2005, Delahunt negotiated a deal with Citgo, the US distribution arm of Venezuela’s state-run oil company, to supply 30,000 low-income households with deeply discounted heating oil. With those negotiations, Delahunt helped pave the way for a partnership between Citgo and Citizens Energy, a nonprofit company run by Joseph P. Kennedy II that distributes up to 100 gallons of free heating oil to families in Massachusetts and other states.
Major Heating Oil Spill Affects Creek in Columbus, OH
Clean-up crew at Alum Creek. (image: NBC4 via nbc4i.com)
A Sunday night oil spill in Columbus, Ohio is still under investigation as clean-up crews grapple with a 2.5 mile-long slick floating on the Alum Creek water surface. As reported by the Columbus Dispatch, the oil stretched from Livingston Avenue to the state Rt. 104 overpass.
The leak was discovered around 9 PM as officials responded to reports from Alum Creek Drive and Livingston Avenue of a strong unfamiliar smell. Over 200 gallons of oil had drained into the river from a sewage pipe. The source of the leak is still unknown, but according to 10TV, officials at the scene speculate that it may be coming from a building near Route 104. Reports vary as to whether the substance was heating oil or diesel, two very similar grades of fuel oil.
New Inventory Data Show US Heating Oil Demand Still Extremely Weak
Heating oil users dialing back their thermostats to save money (setting them to 68˚F instead of 72˚F, for example) have helped bring demand for heating oil to historically low levels this season. (image: treehugger.com)
The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration released data on US petroleum product inventories on Friday that strongly confirmed that the downward trend in US demand for heating oil and other fuel products is continuing, reported Reuters.
Speaking to Reuters, analyst Brad Samples summed up the implications of the EIA’s release: “You couldn’t ask for a more bearish report. It speaks to the
continuing lack of demand in the U.S. market.”
Data on heating oil inventories were particularly striking, as last week’s snowstorm that pummeled the Mid-Atlantic and the accompanying low temperatures that covered most of the Northeast failed to put a major dent in existing heating oil supplies. Total US demand for distillate fuels (primarily heating oil and road diesel) over the last four weeks came to 3.73 million barrels per day, a huge 8 percent decrease from this time last year. Separate from diesel, heating oil stockpiles grew by an astounding 1.5 million barrels in the week ending February 5. This statistic is perhaps the most telling, as heating oil demand tends to remain strong throughout the winter, and major snow storms or cold snaps of the type seen last week usually result in a spike in already-elevated demand.
The cause of depressed heating oil demand, even in the dead of winter, is most likely fallout from the economic recession. Faced with economic hardship, millions of families, businesses, and organizations are conserving heating oil as much as possible to save on their heating bills. Put simply, when millions of thermostats are turned down just a few degrees lower than in previous winters, the result is a multimillion-gallon decline in demand for heating oil.
This weak demand, in combination with other economic trends such as a rising US dollar and tightening of bank lending in China, has helped keep crude and heating oil prices relatively stable in recent months, and the EIA report points to that trend continuing, at least until the US economy shows clearer signs of recovery.
So barring any major geopolitical upheaval between now and May, it is reasonable to expect demand to remain low and prevent any huge spikes in heating oil prices, even during periods of exceptionally cold weather.
Tips for Getting Heating Oil Delivered During the Storm
A heating oil delivery driver makes a delivery in snowy conditions earlier this year in Farmingham, Massachusetts. (image: boston.com)
Another major storm is headed toward the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas, and is forecasted to dump a foot or more of snow on the region between now and Thursday night. Residents from Maryland to Maine are preparing for school closures and transportation problems over the next 48 hours. For heating oil users, making sure they’ll get an oil delivery when they need it should be a top priority. If you’re in need of a heating oil delivery this week, take these steps to make sure your heat stays on while you weather the oncoming storm:
1) Order today. If your heating oil tank is currently 1/3 full or less, you should put in an order right away and aim for delivery today or tonight, before the snow begins to fall. Oil dealers will be extremely busy all week, so they may not be able to deliver before the storm hits, but the sooner you place your order, the closer you’ll be to the top of the delivery list.
2) Clear your fill pipe. Residents up and down the East Coast know that shoveling and salting are all part of dealing with winter storms. As Pennsylvania’s ABC 27 News reminds us, heating oil delivery drivers must be able to find your fill pipe in order to fill your tank. Make sure that your fill pipe is free of snow, clearly visible, and accessible from the street.
3) Keep your chimney clear. Just like a fireplace, your heating oil burner has a chimney (also called a stack or exhaust pipe) to vent exhaust from burning oil. Make sure that your burner’s exhaust line remains clear and does not get obstructed by snow. A blocked exhaust pipe can lead to less efficient performance by your heating system and dangerous exhaust fumes seeping into your home.
Following these simple steps will reduce the danger of non-delivery and system failure and keep you warm during the fast-approaching second “snowpocalypse” of 2010. So best wishes to the shovelers and plowers out there, and keep in mind: spring is only 39 days away!
