Factors That May Affect Oil Prices

• Oil prices in the United States and in the world market are influenced by several factors. These factors include the demands within a particular season, cost of oil in a particular period, operating costs and competition in the market. The condition of the world's main producers of oil, too, may have an affect on the prices of home heating oil
  
  

Sources of Heating Oil

• Home heating oil used in the United States is obtained from two sources, namely, the domestic or U.S. refineries and imports from other oil-producing countries such as China, Kuwait, Japan, Uzbekistan and many others. Domestic refineries can only supply a limited amount of heating oil to households. This is the reason why importation of this substance is so greatly needed. The United States imports heating oil from Canada, Venezuela and the Virgin Islands. The main sources of oil, however, are in Middle Eastern countries.
  
  

Gulf War

• In October 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The invasion caused an upsurge in the prices of oil and many households in the US felt the harsh effects of the invasion deeply. It was in that year that the stocks of home heating oil in the United States dove to its lowest ever. Several states experienced economic devastation and severe hardships as the cost of oil rose dramatically.
  
  

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

• As the prices of oil continued to surge, the United States Government re-established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to address the problem of oil shortage. The SPR is a system which had been used to address oil problems during former years when the United States and other nations also experienced oil shortage. The SPR was aimed at providing oil to the U.S. energy reserve and to meet the demands of the consuming public.
  
  

Rise and Fall of Home Heating Oil Prices

• In more recent times, the prices of crude oil in the world market began to decline, much to the delight of many consumers. Production cuts performed by OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) assisted in the rise of oil prices.