Maine heating oil prices continue 'unprecedented fall'
Heating oil prices in Maine continue to tumble, dropping to $1.83 in the latest heating fuel survey, as the price of crude oil reached its lowest point of the year.
The average statewide price of heating oil Monday fell nine cents from the average price two weeks before, according to the Maine Governor's Energy Office's weekly heating fuel price survey. Across the state, the average prices ranged from a low of $1.77 a gallon in the southwestern region of the state to a high of $1.99 a gallon in northern Maine.
Lisa Smith, senior planner at the state energy office, wrote that the drops in heating oil prices are “unprecedented,” attributing them to the continued declines in global crude oil prices.
She wrote that this month, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to eliminate production caps, and Congress voted to lift the decades-old ban on domestic crude oil exports.
The price of a barrel of the U.S. benchmark crude fell 2% Wednesday, down to an annual low of $36.85, according to the New York Times.
Last heating season, the highest average statewide price was $3.29 per gallon on Oct. 6, 2014. Around the same time this season, the price per gallon was just above $2. The price was $2.05 per gallon on Nov. 9, down significantly from early November last year when the average price of heating oil was $3.12.
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