Oil prices are volatile in the news and it seems to have an impact on your Virginia oil heat delivery bill. A multitude of forces influence the price of heating oil for your Virginia home. To understand what impacts the price it is essential to understand where is comes from. Heating oil is a distillate, much like diesel fuel, and United States refines much of its own distillate. The bulk of the rest is imported from Canada, the Virgin Islands and Venezuela. It is shipped through pipelines, barges, trucks and rail. Any disruption of supply, domestic or abroad, can influence the price.

Supply is crucial to the price of Virginia oil heat delivery and so is demand. The forces of capitalism push the price of distillates up when demand increases. There is a marketable increase in demand during the winter months. Because the United States does not refine all of its own distillates the demand does not have to be inside this country. An especially cold winter in Europe could increase the continents demand and stretch the foreign supply of distillates thin. Capitalism can work in your favor. A new fuel company moving into Virginia would create competition and lower prices.

Heating oil is publicly traded. It is used as an engine to make money for investors on the stock market. The stock market can fluctuate and influence the price of crude oil. Crude is the basic component of distillates and its price affects the price of your Virginia oil heat delivery. The higher price of crude oil has a multi-layered effect. When gasoline prices rise then it is more expensive to ship the fuel to the company and it is more costly to run the tanker truck that delivers the fuel to your home. Homes in remote parts of Virginia are especially vulnerable.

Virginia oil heat delivery companies generally offer price protection programs. They understand the volatility of the market. Most companies will give the option to pay for your expected fuel use up front to give you certainty. Those who can afford this option can budget their winter most effectively. Another option the fuel company may present you with is price capping. For a fee you can be guaranteed that you wont pay over a certain price all winter. This will allow payment for the fuel over a longer period of time. Otherwise you are at the whims of the oil pricing market.