Definitions, Sources and Explanatory Notes

Category:	Petroleum Prices
Topic:	Weekly Heating Oil & Propane Prices

Definitions

Key Terms	Definition
No. 2 Fuel Oil (Heating Oil)	A distillate fuel oil for use in atomizing type burners for domestic heating or for use medium capacity commercial-industrial burner units, with distillation temperatures between 540-640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point; and the kinematic viscosities between 1.9-3.4 centistokes at 100 degrees Fahrenheit as defined in ASTM Specification D396-92.
Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD):	PADD 1 (East Coast):    PADD 1A (New England): Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.    PADD 1B (Central Atlantic): Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania.    PADD 1C (Lower Atlantic): Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. PADD 2 (Midwest): Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin. PADD 3 (Gulf Coast): Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas. PADD 4 (Rocky Mountain): Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming. PADD 5 (West Coast): Alaska (North Slope and Other Mainland), Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington.
Propane	A normally gaseous straight-chain hydrocarbon. It is a colorless paraffinic gas that boils at a temperature of -43.67 degrees Fahrenheit. It is extracted from natural gas or refinery gas streams. It includes all products designated in ASTM Specification D1835 and Gas Processors Association Specifications for commercial propane and HD-05 propane. For price data, it does not include the propane portion of any natural gas liquids (NGL) mixes; i.e., butane-propane and ethane-propane mix.
Residential Heating Oil Price	The price charged for home delivery of No.2 heating oil, exclusive of any discounts such as those for prompt cash payment. Prices do not include taxes paid by the consumer.
Residential Propane Price	The price charged for home delivery of consumer grade propane intended for use in space heating, cooking, or hot water heaters in residences.
Wholesale Price	The rack price charged for No. 2 heating oil or propane; that is , the price paid by customers who purchase No. 2 heating oil or propane free-on-board at a supplier's terminal and who provide their own transportation for the product(s).

For definitions of related energy terms, refer to the EIA Energy Glossary.

Sources

	Residential prices are based on data collected by State Energy Offices. Wholesale prices are based on terminal quotes collected by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).

Explanatory Notes

Weekly heating oil and propane prices are only collected during the heating season which extends from October through March. Values shown for the previous week may be revised to account for late submissions and corrections. Sampling methodology and estimation procedures are presented in Methodology for EIA Weekly Retail Price Estimates of Winter Fuels. Due to updated weighting methodology, national and regional residential heating oil and propane prices from October 2009 to March 2013 have been revised since they were first published. See Excel spreadsheet for changes to published data.