Heating oil tumbles on Nymex

19 February 2010

Heating oil prices moved lower on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) this morning (February 19th) despite a drawdown in distillate inventories last week.

The latest petroleum status report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that distillate stocks, including heating oil, were down last week, indicating strengthening demand.

However, this was more than offset by a rise in crude and gasoline stocks, which sparked a selloff in both heating oil and crude futures on the Nymex this morning.

A stronger dollar also weighed on prices during the electronic trading session as foreign investors avoided buying dollar-priced commodities.

As European markets opened, the headline heating oil contract was trading around $2.02 a gallon, down more than two cents on yesterday's settle price.

Crude and heating oil prices have enjoyed a sustained rally this week as economic recovery gathered pace in the US, recovering from falls incurred in similar demand weakness revealed by the EIA last week.

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