Welcome to the Fuel Matters Blog

Let’s talk about the weather so far this year (or lack thereof). For the first 12 days of 2020 in our hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we had the 11th warmest start on record. Most of Pennsylvania saw temperatures last Saturday averaging 20 - 30 degrees higher than normal. This is not welcomed news to the energy industry, which obviously loves to sell fuel in the wintertime to keep us warm. Despite the warm start, it looks like cooler-than-average temperatures are on the way over the next two weeks, including the possibility of the first significant snowstorm of the year during the weekend.

Seattle is making an attempt to move aggressively towards cutting the city emissions.   In September, Mayor Jenny Durkan signed a bill that would tax home heating oil an additional 24 cents per gallon.  This tax would be on top of the existing 10% heating oil tax that currently exists for the residents of Seattle.  This tax will take effect starting during the summer of 2020. 

The oil market is rallying today primarily because of a sizable crude oil draw reported by the DOE, a softening dollar, and bullish OPEC comments.

Have you ever found yourself feeling like this past winter was tougher to handle then previous years? That’s because it’s true! According to the Heating Degree Day Report, Southwestern Pennsylvania experienced a winter that was 15% colder than 2017 and 30% colder than 2016.