News
Strong US dollar keeps oil prices high
Thursday 13th November 2008
Few things seem to fluctuate in value as much as the global oil market. Rarely out of the press, oil prices have an impact on every aspect of our lives from the price of petrol to the cost of food on the supermarket shelves. With OPEC tending to get the blame when the price of crude oil rises, there are other factors that influence oil prices globally.
As oil is traded in US dollars on the international markets, the weakening of the GB pound against the dollar has a significant impact on the price we, the consumer, ends up paying for our oil. Regardless of OPEC decisions, devaluation of the pound alone can keep the oil price up for long periods at a time.
With the value of the GB pound seeing a steady decline against the US dollar over recent weeks, consumers haven't fully benefited from the headline-grabbing slump in international oil prices.
Currently priced at around $685 per tonne, against an exchange rate of $1.57 to the GBP, most suppliers are selling domestic heating oil at around 41-45ppl.
Compare these figures to August 2007, and the influence of the US dollar's value becomes apparent. With prices set at around $684 per tonne and an exchange rate of $2/GBP, prices were around 32-36ppl.
A difference of approximately 8ppl can have a significant impact on the cost of your heating oil, adding around £120 on an average order of 1,000 litres.
You can rest assured that whatever is happening in the oil or currency markets, heatingoil.co.uk will always guarantee you the lowest possible prices and the most flexible delivery options.