Heating oil customers taking advantage of lower prices
BOSTON - Prices for crude oil are dropping and it's easing the pain at the pump along with the cost to fill those oil tanks in our houses. But will it last?
The price of a barrel of oil is hovering around $90. It is a drastic decrease from March when prices peaked at $127 a barrel, but it is still higher than this time last year when crude oil was costing $60 a barrel on average.
"Now, for some reason the prices have skyrocketed," said Debbi Markarian. "We usually can predict what's going on, but we have not been able to predict anything this year at all."
Debbi Markarian is the co-owner of the family run Metro Energy in South Boston.
The business has been in operation since the 1920s but admits the last year has been unlike any they can remember.
"We are home heating oil," said Markarian. "We have the gas company to compete with, so we don't want to lose our customers over the high fuel costs."
Markarian said they had received a surplus of calls within the last two weeks from customers looking to have their oil tanks filled.
Prices have dropped and Markarian said many customers had forgone fill-ups earlier in the year due to higher prices. That is resulting in emptier tanks and customers needing more oil to fill them.
"We don't know what is going to happen in the fall because the producers are not producing enough fuel," said Markarian.
Michael Ferrante is the President of the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association and said the industry is keeping an eye on a potential shortage, but most of the shortage comes from companies buying less oil to keep in their stockpiles. Ferrante said oil rates have been dropping steadily and companies do not want to buy a surplus of oil at a higher rate to store when the price is likely to change.
"I am confident there will be plenty of oil for the fall and winter season," said Ferrante.
Markarian said they are advising customers to fill up their tanks now while the rates are lower and before the fall rush.
Ferrante said there is no guarantee that rates will continue to decrease. "We are all subject to the vagaries of the global energy market so heat oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, even natural gas can be affected by an event," he said.