Heating oil tracks crude higher

5 January 2010

Wholesale heating oil prices climbed once more on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (January 5th), with demand for the commodity expected to rise as a sustained cold front hits the US and Europe.

During the electronic trading session, the February-delivery heating oil contract approached $2.20 (€1.52) a gallon, while crude oil inched towards the $82-a-barrel, approaching a 14-month high.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Toby Hassall, a Sydney-based analyst at CWA Global Markets, commented: "It has been a cold winter across a lot of the Northern Hemisphere, which has boosted demand for heating fuels and is expected to draw down the ample distillate stockpiles."

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will tomorrow publish inventories data for last week and many traders are expecting large drawdowns in heating oil, gasoline, propane and crude oil stocks.

The American Petroleum Institute, which surveys a smaller portion of the total oil and gas stocks in the US, will also publish its findings for last week later today, giving an indication as to what the EIA figures may show.

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