Forecasts of warmer weather in the Northeast – the nation’s largest user of heating oil – have fueled speculation that U.S. inventories might be sufficient to meet heating demand, Bloomberg News reports.
The U.S. Energy Department said that, in the week ending Feb. 9, the nation’s inventory of distillate supplies including heating oil and diesel was 7.3 percent above the five-year average for the period. U.S. stockpiles “are still going to fall … but they are never going to run out,” said Paul Horsnell, Barclays Capital’s head of commodities research.
The result may be lower prices for heating oil and other petroleum products. In Bloomberg’s latest oil price survey, 21 of 42 analysts surveyed – 50 percent – said prices on the U.S. futures market will decline this week, 10 said they will increase and 11 expected little change. The week before, 35 percent expected futures to fall.
