Oil Prices Ni: Home Heating Oil Falls Below £400 in Northern Ireland
Oil prices ni dropped again in Northern Ireland, with 500 litres of home heating oil averaging £395 on Tuesday, below £400 for the first time since the Iran crisis began in February. The move follows weeks of lower global crude prices, and it gives households that buy oil a cheaper refill than they faced at the April peak.
Northern Ireland's £395 oil average
£395 was the average price for 500 litres on Tuesday, according to the Northern Ireland Consumer Council, after the same quantity reached almost £630 in April. That leaves the typical household oil order more than £230 cheaper than the spring high, a sharp shift for a market where prices can move quickly.
Two thirds of Northern Ireland households use home heating oil, and the market is unregulated, so wholesale moves can reach consumers fast. At the start of this year, 500 litres cost less than £300, showing how far the market climbed before easing back.
Brent crude above $80
$80 a barrel was where Brent crude stood on Tuesday morning, still well above the $65 level seen before the conflict. The benchmark had been around $120 a barrel during the most intense phase of the crisis, after restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz followed the US and Israel attacks on Iran.
Analysts say every $10 increase in the oil price pushes pump prices up by roughly 7p a litre, which helps explain why the fall in crude has already fed through to forecourt fuel. Last week, unleaded petrol averaged just under 151p a litre, below its recent peak of 154p.
Diesel 169p and petrol 151p
169p was last week’s average diesel price, down from an April peak of 188p a litre. The drop is not limited to home heating oil: petrol and diesel have both moved lower as crude has softened, cutting costs for drivers alongside households that heat with oil.
£100 is the grant due later this year for lower income households that use oil, and that support lands after a stretch in which prices almost doubled in a week at the start of the crisis. For families still budgeting around winter fuel bills, the immediate question is whether the recent easing holds long enough to make the next refill materially cheaper than the spring spike.
