Heating oil touches $2.10 in NY

23 October 2009

Wholesale heating oil prices were up in electronic trading in New York this morning (October 23rd), mimicking moderate gains seen in crude futures.

Ahead of the physical opening of the New York Mercantile Exchange later today, the November-delivery heating oil contract temporarily breached the $2.10 (£1.25) a gallon barrier, supported by growing confidence in petroleum demand.

Both heating oil and crude futures surged on Wednesday after data from the Energy Information Administration revealed an unexpected rise in demand for gasoline and distillate fuels such as heating oil in the US, the world's largest energy consumer.

The two contracts also found support earlier in the week from a raft of strong financial earnings reports from some of America's largest corporations.

Speaking to Reuters, Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services, said oil's rise above $80 a barrel is likely to be maintained in the medium term.

"We feel confident that any dips back to $75 can be looked at as a buying opportunity," he added.

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