Warm Winters Held Heating Oil Demand Down While Diesel Grew
Notes:
- Total distillate demand includes both diesel and heating oil. These are similar products physically, and prior to the low sulfur requirements for on-road diesel fuel, were used interchangeably. But even today, low sulfur diesel can be used in the heating oil market, but low sulfur requirements keep heating oil from being used in the on-road transportation sector.
- The seasonal increases and decreases in stocks stem from the seasonal demand in heating oil shown as the bottom red line. Heating oil demand increases by more than 50 percent from its low point to its high point. But it can increase much more as can be seen in January 1994, when high sulfur heating oil demand doubled over its more typical levels.
- Heating oil demand has not been growing, and the warm winters over the last few years have diminished the peak levels.
- Look back at January 1994 and you see the peaks for the last several winters are 500 thousand barrels per day lower than what we experienced during that very cold month.
- Diesel demand is where the annual growth in distillate has been.