http://www.bangornews.com/News/20000122000000Heatingoil.html

-- Dad in Maine (goshen@Maine.IHope), January 22, 2000

Answers

Here is the Article, Yikes! this is where I live. It doesn't sound like Goshen anymore.

Heating oil prices leaping in cold

By Susan Young, Of the NEWS Staff

Recent cold weather and a decrease in oil supply from the Middle East have sent fuel prices spiraling upward in Maine. Some fuels were in short supply in the state Friday.

Heating oil prices have risen by more than 25 cents per gallon in the last week, while kerosene prices have increased by nearly 50 cents a gallon. Automobile gasoline prices have also gone up, but not as dramatically.

The Dead River Co., for example, was charging $1.469 a gallon for heating oil Friday. On Monday, the price was only $1.179 per gallon.

Some fuel terminals in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts are completely out of kerosene, and others are running short of heating oil. In southern Maine, some fuel dealers were traveling to Boston to obtain kerosene for their customers. About 8 percent of Maine residents heat their homes with kerosene. It is also added to diesel fuel in the winter to ensure that the diesel does not thicken in cold temperatures.

See Oil Supply, A4, Col. 3

Oil Supply, from A1

The Maine Oil Dealers Association, however, stressed Friday that this is an extremely temporary situation and urged people not to feel compelled to rush out and top off their fuel tanks, which would create a real problem.

Wayne Mitchell, a spokesman for the association, said he expected the states kerosene supply to be replenished within a few days. After that, prices will stabilize and eventually decline, he said.

The price of crude oil, which is refined into other products such as heating oil, gasoline and kerosene, has more than doubled in the past 12 months, reaching its highest level in nine years on Friday. Bitter cold temperatures in the Northeast spurred investors to bid up the price on the New York Mercantile Exchange based on expectations that demand for oil products will remain strong while the supply is not expected to increase. Weather forecasts call for continued cold temperatures in the region.

On the supply side, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has cut back its oil production over the last year and a half. OPEC has held back oil from the world markets in order to keep prices high. Oil prices are at their highest level since the Gulf War.

Although more than 60 percent of Maines oil supply comes from U.S. sources, oil prices around the world are affected by OPEC. In addition, some U.S. companies have been shipping oil to Europe, which experienced a cold snap of its own recently. It will take a while for replacement supplies for that oil to be directed back to U.S. customers.

Mike Shea, the senior vice president for supply and marketing at Webber Energy Fuels in Bangor, said that although some companies have run out of kerosene, his is not one of them.

We dont have any shortage of anything, he said.

The companys cargo of home heating oil is due to arrive as scheduled at its terminal next week. Webber has a couple of weeks worth of kerosene on hand, but, Shea said, replenishing that supply could be a problem if more of the fuel is not shipped to regional suppliers.

The wholesale price of heating oil has increased 30 cents since last Friday, Shea said.

Robert Cort, the vice president of Maine Energy Inc., said his company has enough fuel to serve its customers but is concerned about having enough diesel fuel to keep its delivery trucks running.

In the last four days, the companys retail price for home heating oil has increased 26 cents per gallon to $1.459. The price of kerosene has jumped 49 cents during the same time to $1.849 a gallon.

At gas stations in the Bangor area, prices have risen about 10 cents per gallon this week.

Citing rising oil prices, U.S. Rep. John Baldacci on Friday issued a press release calling upon President Clinton to increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program in the administrations 2001 budget.

Although heating oil and kerosene prices have increased dramatically, state fuel assistance benefits for low-income families will not be increased, a representatives of the Penquis Community Action Program said Friday. The assistance program is not set up to accommodate fluctuations in fuel prices.

-- Dad in Maine (goshen@Maine.IHope), January 22, 2000.