US home heating oil hits new high of $6.233/gal as Brent crude falls to $123.10

Households are still paying more to heat their homes

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) surveys the price households pay for No. 2 heating oil, a fuel oil used to heat homes. The US average rose to $6.233 per gallon (gal) in the week of Oct 26, from $6.209. New England was at $6.165. Last winter's survey peaked at $5.57 in March, and February readings were about $4.07. Retail prices are still climbing even though wholesale diesel is falling. Residential propane rose to $2.73/gal.

Crude oil and wholesale fuel prices fell

Brent, the main international crude oil price, fell to $123.10 per barrel (bbl) on Oct 27. It was $128.12 the day before and $128.30 on Oct 23. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main US crude price, at Cushing fell to $103.37, from $109.72 on Oct 23. That leaves Brent about $20 above WTI. Fuel prices followed crude down:

• New York Harbor ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) was $4.687/gal. That is down from $5.282 on Oct 22 (about -11%) and the lowest since early October.
• US Gulf Coast jet fuel was $4.444/gal.
• Los Angeles diesel made to California Air Resources Board (CARB) rules was $5.054/gal.
• New York Harbor conventional gasoline was $2.819/gal.

Natural gas prices dropped on mild weather forecasts

Henry Hub is the main US natural gas price. Its spot price hit $2.52 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Oct 26 after mild weather forecasts, then recovered to $2.76. It was $3.28 on Oct 19.

Other details

• The prior week's heating oil price of $6.209 is a revised figure. It was first published at $6.19.
• The Mont Belvieu propane spot price rose to $1.203.
• US imports of gasoline blending components were 382 thousand barrels a day (kb/d), up from 263 kb/d.
• Electricity demand in the Lower 48 states peaked near 506k megawatthours (MWh) on Oct 28.