www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JANUARY 2015 13
Administration's projection of near-normal temperatures
for the remainder of the winter are expected to help
lessen consumer expenditures on home heating compared
with last winter. Lower crude oil prices are expected to
help reduce household heating oil expenditures by 27%
($632) compared with last winter, with U.S. heating oil
prices averaging 20% lower at $3.09/gal. Propane prices are
expected to be 13% lower in the Northeast and 26% lower
in the Midwest, resulting in households spending 20% and
34% less on propane in those regions, respectively.
• Natural gas working inventories on November 28
totaled 3.41 trillion cubic feet, 0.23 Tcf (6%) below the
level at the same time a year ago and 0.37 Tcf (10%)
below the previous five-year average (2009-13). Despite
the lower stocks at the start of this winter's heating sea-
son, EIA expects the Henry Hub natural gas spot price to
average $3.98/million British thermal units this winter
compared with $4.53/MMBtu last winter, reflecting both
lower expected heating demand and higher natural gas
production this winter.
