Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
#1
Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
I’ve been debating with myself all summer about whether to buy heating oil before the winter sets in, or wait to see if the price falls any further.
The argument goes like this: Demand in winter will be higher therefore the price will rise – BUT, on the other hand, world recession could mean a lot less demand for oil and the price will fall. BUT, what if a change of government in USA and a possible fall in interest rates in Europe cause the dollar to rise against the euro? Would than mean the price here would go up? BUT, if the dollar gets stronger, surely the world price of oil will come down? .......and so on........and on....... and on....
You can see I’ve been losing sleep over this.
Checked the tanks yesterday and found I have enough to run the boiler for at most 6 weeks at average (based on last year only) winter consumption. With the weather here the way it is at the moment (grey, sometimes drizzly, not exactly cold but unseasonably cool, miserable) I began to worry that winter could be starting sooner than expected, and that if I wait prices might go up because of increased consumer demand.
Eventually I bit the bullet and ordered what I hope is enough to see us through to April. The price I got was 87 cents per litre. This is about 20 cents more than this time last year, but almost 10 cents less than a month or two back.
Have I jumped too early? OR should I have ordered more because it’ll never be so cheap again?
Hell’s bells! I still can’t sleep :curse:
The argument goes like this: Demand in winter will be higher therefore the price will rise – BUT, on the other hand, world recession could mean a lot less demand for oil and the price will fall. BUT, what if a change of government in USA and a possible fall in interest rates in Europe cause the dollar to rise against the euro? Would than mean the price here would go up? BUT, if the dollar gets stronger, surely the world price of oil will come down? .......and so on........and on....... and on....
You can see I’ve been losing sleep over this.
Checked the tanks yesterday and found I have enough to run the boiler for at most 6 weeks at average (based on last year only) winter consumption. With the weather here the way it is at the moment (grey, sometimes drizzly, not exactly cold but unseasonably cool, miserable) I began to worry that winter could be starting sooner than expected, and that if I wait prices might go up because of increased consumer demand.
Eventually I bit the bullet and ordered what I hope is enough to see us through to April. The price I got was 87 cents per litre. This is about 20 cents more than this time last year, but almost 10 cents less than a month or two back.
Have I jumped too early? OR should I have ordered more because it’ll never be so cheap again?
Hell’s bells! I still can’t sleep :curse:
#2
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Normandy, France and occassionally Nova Scotia!
Posts: 3,373
Re: Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
Think you did the right thing, so hopefully you can sleep better tonight
I'm in Canada at the moment, and they put the petrol prices up again last night. The reason - they are expecting a storm to hit off Florida NEXT WEEK.
Go figure.
I'm in Canada at the moment, and they put the petrol prices up again last night. The reason - they are expecting a storm to hit off Florida NEXT WEEK.
Go figure.
#4
Re: Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
Sun's just come out in Gloucester UK. Forgotten what it looked like.
#5
Re: Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
placo, there are (self-assessed) greater minds than ours pondering such issues on a rather larger scale than your problem. I doubt though that they are losing sleep over it.
Swings and roundabouts, innit?
Swings and roundabouts, innit?
#6
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,094
Re: Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
[QUOTE=Novocastrian;6728275]placo,
Swings and roundabouts, innit?[/QUO
No way man,some must win all the time.
Swings and roundabouts, innit?[/QUO
No way man,some must win all the time.
#7
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: SE Dordogne France
Posts: 982
Re: Heating Oil - buy now, or not?
As someone once observed,
For most volatile items there are 2 best times to buy..............
Yesterday and Tomorrow
For most volatile items there are 2 best times to buy..............
Yesterday and Tomorrow