Diesel has been cheaper for weeks – mainly because of the drop in oil prices. This decline does not apply to heating oil. This could also have something to do with the fear of missing gas deliveries.
Heating oil buyers still have to dig deep into their pockets, although the price of crude oil has recently fallen. While diesel fuel, which is very similar as a product, has been cheaper for weeks, heating oil prices have hardly changed, as figures from the HeizOel24 portal show.
For Thursday, it reported a liter price of 1.51 euros when buying 3000 liters. Prices have fluctuated around 1.50 euros for about a month. If you go back two months, there is even an increase of a few cents per liter. Quite different with diesel: According to ADAC data, the price of the fuel has fallen by around 14 to 15 cents per liter since mid-June.
The lower oil price is considered to be the most important driver behind the fall in diesel prices. While the North Sea variety Brent, which is important for Europe, cost around 120 dollars per barrel (159 liters) in early and mid-June, it was recently below 100 dollars. It is unclear why this decline did not affect heating oil.
Why is the lower oil price not having an effect?
One possibility would be increasing demand: According to the Fuels and Energy trade association, numerous companies are currently switching to heating oil for fear of a lack of gas deliveries.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) also sees a shift from gas to oil. According to the monthly report published on Thursday, the gas crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, with a sharp increase in the price of natural gas, has led to industrial companies and power plants increasingly operating their plants with oil.
The IEA has therefore raised its forecast for growth in global demand for crude oil. The agency now expects demand of 99.7 million barrels per day for the current year. That is 380,000 barrels more than the previous forecast. For the coming year, it then expects a daily demand of 101.8 million barrels. The higher demand for crude oil is to be expected above all in the regions of Europe and the Middle East, the monthly report continues.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gave almost the same forecast figure for this year on Thursday: It expects an average daily demand for crude oil of 100 million barrels. So far, however, it had assumed slightly more.
Demand for heating oil in Germany has not collapsed
In Germany, the demand for heating oil did not fall drastically in the first few months after the beginning of the war, despite very high heating oil prices. The figures for domestic deliveries reported by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa) for the months of March to May 2022 are rather low compared to previous years, but they were even lower in 2021. Values for June and July are not yet available.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
