Heating Oil News

Crude has plunged. Brent crashed roughly 15–16% on Tuesday to around $92 per barrel – its sharpest one-day fall in years – after President Trump announced a two-week “double-sided ceasefire” with Iran, conditional on Tehran allowing the complete and immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to safe passage. Just days earlier Brent had been trading close to $109 and had touched almost $128 intraday on 2 April, so the unwind of the Hormuz risk premium has been dramatic. Even so, prices remain well above the roughly $70 level seen before the conflict began on 28 February, and traders are treating the truce as fragile.

UK heating oil prices have not yet caught up with the crude sell-off. The national average is still sitting around 129–140p per litre, with many quotes closer to the top of that range after late-March peaks. Kerosene typically lags wholesale moves by several days, and suppliers are working through stock bought at higher replacement cost, so any relief at the pump will feed through gradually rather than overnight. Kerosene also shares a barrel with jet fuel, and aviation demand is still rebuilding routes that were disrupted while Hormuz was closed, which is keeping the middle distillate complex tighter than crude alone would suggest. It is well worth comparing quotes before ordering. The Government's £53 million winter support package also remains live (£27m via the Crisis and Resilience Fund in England, £17m for Northern Ireland, £4.6m for Scotland and £3.8m for Wales), so contact your local council if you may be eligible.

On the supply side, OPEC+ confirmed last week that the eight participating countries would proceed with the 206,000 barrels per day increase already scheduled for April, but stopped short of any larger response to the Hormuz disruption. The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee again warned that attacks on energy infrastructure and disrupted maritime routes are undermining market stability and that damaged facilities cannot be brought back online quickly. With the ceasefire only two weeks long and conditional on Iranian compliance, the risk of another spike has not gone away, so if you need to top up it still pays to lock in a price rather than wait. Use Fueltool to compare suppliers and find the cheapest quote in your area.