The global pandemic from a few years ago threw the world economy into turmoil. Not only did many businesses shut down both temporarily (and some permanently), but the supply chain was log-jammed. This affected each and every market globally. It was the equivalent to someone grabbing and pulling the emergency brake on a high-speed train. Basically, it has repercussions which we still feel today.

The way in which leaders from around the world, and more specifically our own government, handled the crisis seemed to add fuel to the fire. They injected economies with money created out of thin air, trillions of dollars in fact. More money in a closed system where less work is being done is the perfect recipe for inflation. And we saw plenty of it.

At one point the year-over-year inflation was in the mid-double digits. It has since crept back down to mid single digits. But, we are not out of the woods yet. Fuel and heating oil, like every commodity, was hit hard by inflation. The prices crept upwards for some time. People looking to fill their home oil tanks dreaded receiving the bill.

World Wide Conflict and How it Affects Pricing

The western world depends on oil imports from other countries. Unfortunately, some of those countries are at odds with the western world. Countries like Russia, Venezuela & some in the middle-east have a love/hate relationship with the United States. They hate the U.S. but love selling us oil.

It can be pondered as to what prices would be if the United States were on better terms with some or all of these countries. Would the price be affected? Would the price per barrel remain the same or would it be cheaper?

Current Pricing of Heating Oil in the Virginia Region

As you can see from the chart provided by eia.gov, the price hit an all-time high last year. It has eased some but many speculate if it will ease further or spike again. We are anticipating a return to 2012-13 prices and have hopes that it either levels off there or even drops significantly.

Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, recently had this to say: “I think we might find ourselves at the end of November with the wolf at the door”. These are not exactly encouraging words but nothing is written in stone. Our advice is to purchase your oil now in case Mr. Kloza is correct.

A barrel of oil in converted into many different types of fuels and oils.

Unless you are in the industry or have had both of these different types of heating systems, chances are that you do not know the difference between heating oil and fuel oil. This article aims to clear up any confusion that you may have on the subject.

The difference between fuel oil and heating oil is minimal. Heating oil typically produces a little more heat that fuel oil. The main difference between the two from a customer standpoint is that heating oil is more suited to be stored in an indoor tank whereas fuel oil should be stored in an outdoor tank.

Heating oil is heavier than fuel oil. It contains 139,000 BTUs whereas fuel oil contains 135,000 BTUs. Note: BTU is an acronym. It stands for British Thermal Unit. It’s a form of measurement that measures energy.

When a distillery processes a barrel of oil, it ends up being used for a myriad of fueling and lubricating means. It ends up as everything from jet fuel to petroleum jelly. As far as fuel is concerned, it is broken up into six categories that you can find below:

table source crownoil.co.uk

Fuel Oil No. 1 – This is usually referred to as coal oil, stove oil and range oil.

Fuel Oil No. 2 – This is referred to as heating oil or bunker A.

Fuel Oil No. 3 – This fuel is for low-viscosity burning, but it is less frequently used since the mid-20th century.

Fuel Oil No. 4 – This is a commercial heating oil used for boilers/burners where pre-heaters are not installed.

Fuel Oil No. 5 – This is an industrial heating oil which needs preheating to 77-104°C. This fuel is referred to as bunker B.

Fuel Oil No. 6 – This is a residual oil which also needs preheating, however to 104-127 °C. This fuel is known as bunker C.

As you can see there are many levels to fuel oil. Your heating oil supplier can tell you exactly what you need. If you live in the Lynchburg, Madison Heights, or Appomattox area of Central Virginia, we can deliver your fuel oil. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 434-845-0971

Oil refinery

Heating and cooling are our specialty. We serve Lynchburg Virginia and surrounding areas. A major part of our business is providing heating oil for those households that require this type of fuel source. In this article we would like to share some facts about heating oil which the reader may not already know.

Production

Heating oil comes from the same petroleum used for automobile oil and to make gasoline. The raw (or crude) oil is heated from between 250 to 350 degrees Celsius. The oil that condenses at this temperature is then used as heating oil.

By Any Other Name

Heating oil can be called by any other name but it is always heating oil. Some of these names are:

• Gas Oil
• Paraffin
• Fuel Oil
• Kersosene
• 28 second heating oil

These nomenclatures aren’t always 100% accurate but they get the message across.

Best Time to Buy

Just like with any commodity, the best time to buy heating oil is when the use or demand is low. So, buying heating oil in the summer is when you are most likely to receive the best price and the service will be fast as well. Usually the price tends to be lower in summer months too.

Safety of Heating Oil

We have gone over the safety of heating oil in other articles. But, let us do so again because we cannot stress how safe heating oil actually is.

Heating oil only burns when done so in a special heating oil burning unit. Therefore, having a tank of heating oil in or around your house is very safe.

Supply and Demand

When refining a barrel of oil, a good portion of it results in heating oil. Every drop of each barrel of oil is used for a purpose. About 20% is used for gasoline and the rest is divided up between petrochemical and oil uses. There is plenty of supply to meet the demand of customers.

Sounds bizarre right? Why would anyone buy heating oil in the middle of the summer when it is hot outside? You only buy it when you need it, correct? Not so fast.

There are a couple reasons why yo should buy heating oil in the summer. You know the saying “the early bird gets the worm”? Well, it applies here too.

Availability

Heating oil is a very popular way to heat households. Over 5.7 millions homes use heating oil. Blizzards and ice storms can interrupt the flow of heating oil in the winter time. It is a fact of life. By buying heating oil now, you can ensure that it is taken care of now and avoid the hassle of any shortages that may occur in the winter. Being prepared always makes life easier down the road. Having a full tank of heating oil going into the fall months is an example of excellent preparedness.

Price

Heating oil prices are often at their best in the summertime when demand is low. That is how the free market economy works. As demand rises, so do the prices. You can actually save a few bucks by getting the tank filled during the “off-season”.

You can call our office at any time to discuss the current price of heating oil. We are here for your heating and cooling needs.

According to statistics, around 6 million households in the United States currently use heating oil as their main heating fuel source. Some of these households also use heating oil to warm up their water. This is done in much smaller batches than what you would find with other sources of heat for a water heater. Commercial and industrial buildings are also known to use heating oil for many things.

Benefits of Using Heating Oil

There are many benefits that come from using this heating source. If you currently use it, or you’re thinking of making the switch to it then it is important to think about the many benefits that come with this type of heating source.

1. It is one of the most popular choices to go with when it comes to heating your home, making it a great product to get anywhere that you live.
2. It is much safer to use than many of the other heating sources out there. It can only work within a specific burner and it will not explode.
3. It is more effective at heating a home, making the home much more warm and comfortable for those living within it. This is a plus during those really cold nights.
4. It is more cost effective. The system does not have to work as hard to put heat throughout the home. This benefits everyone.
5. It is better for the environment. Since it is so effective at heating homes, this is one of the best sources of heat that doesn’t put too many emissions into the atmosphere.

Whatever the reason is for switching, this can be an ideal switch for you to make. You do not have to worry about not being able to get the heat that is needed since you’re using an efficient heating source that is getting the job done and making everyone comfortable in the end.

A local heating oil company can come out and provide the system, as well as the oil to your home. This provides you with a way to keep the system running, but not having to do any of the maintenance or filling of the oil system on your own.

Contact a local heating oil company to find out how they’re able to help you make the switch. You may be surprised to find all of the cost savings, as well as efficient benefits that come with the system when you do!

The price of a barrel of oil has become a thing of scrutiny ever since our attention was turned to the Middle East decades ago.  The need to be less dependent on foreign oil has caused innovators to find ways to better meet our own fuel demands.  As opposed to conventional oil, shale oil is capitalizing on technological advances in the way we harvest and process oil.  That is good news for the long foreseeable future and Heating Oil Prices.

What is Shale Oil?

Unlike rigs that drill for the bubbling crude, shale oil is a rock.  It is harvested and processed differently.  As you may have been able to deduce by lower gas prices this year, it is a more economically sustainable method.  As the price of a barrel of oil decreases, that price cut is noticed in all forms of refinery, including your heating oil.  And with the largest shale deposits in the world located in the central-west region of our nation, there is no shortage of supply.  According to most experts (even given the unpredictable volatile political climate), prices will continue to drop or remain stable with known deposits to sustain us for around 400 years.

How is Shale Oil Harvested?

It is commonly referred to as “the rock that burns”.  It takes an enormous amount of heat and pressure to keep oil in a liquid form.  It must be mined from the earth using a simple yet sophisticated system and then heated through a process called retorting.  There are other methods currently being looked into that would heat the shale before it is mined from the earth.   Once the shale oil is in liquid form, it can then go through the refining process just like all other oil that is drilled.

Shale 2.0

Our nation is on the cusp of revolutionizing the shale oil industry.  Technological advances and highly motivated entrepreneurs have not given up on the potential this black gold mine has.  The geo-political climate is being heated as the barrel tries not to drop too much.  But lowered fuel costs after being too high for too long will naturally take time to settle back into as the shock of $20/barrel wears off.

The surplus of oil in our nation right now is the highest it has been in many years.  This has allowed a surplus of new technology to develop and big data projects with extraordinary software that has left the market in an upheaval with many changes to come, including more affordable heating oil.

“Drill baby drill,” one of the catchiest phrases to come out of the 2008 presidential election. No matter what your stance is on drilling, we all know our home heating oil originates from crude oil extracted from the earth. The final product however is far from the stuff first taken out of the ground; so how does it get that way? What processes does it go through from the ground in order to reach your home in Oil Processing? Here is a quick look at what happens to your heating oil before it ready to distribute around the country.

Once it has been extracted from the ground, crude oil is sent to a petroleum refinery. These refineries are expansive campuses filled with an assortment of various processing units and other buildings such as storage tanks. It is impossible to pinpoint the exact processes that result in crude oil morphing to heating oil as all refineries operate a little differently, but there is still a general recipe each follows. Incredibly, the average refinery produces anywhere from 800,000 to 900,00 barrels of refined crude oil a day!

The main processes to take place in most refineries is in the crude oil distillation unit (CDU).The first step within the CDU is fractional distillation which facilitates the breaking down of the crude into various components or fractions. This is done by submitting the oil to varying boiling temperature ranges which breaks the crude into different hydrocarbon chains. There are four types of distillates produced that fall into four different categories: light distillates, middle distillates, heavy distillates, and other. Heating oil falls into the middle distillate category along with automotive, rail-road diesel, and other light fuels.

From here, the next step may possibly be chemical processing. This process takes some of the fractions and combines them with others. This is called conversion. The fractions then need to be treated to remove impurities. Achieved through a variety of processes beginning with a sulfuric acid treatment in a column, onto an absorption column to remove water, and completed with another sulfur treatment and scrubbers of hydrogen-sulfide to remove the leftover sulfur.  Finally, depending on the intended outcome, some fractions are again remixed to produce the final product.

So the next time you go to adjust your thermostat, take a quick second to think of all that needed to occur in order for the oil to be ready before it arrived to heat your home. It is truly amazing to think about!

I think if the typical American citizen was asked which country is responsible for producing the largest amount of oil in the world, the most typical answer would probably be somewhere from halfway around the world.  These folks might be surprised to find out that United States is in fact surpassing Russia and all middle eastern countries as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas , ie., Oil Production. In fact, the US is producing approximately 22 million barrels of oil every day to Russia’s 21.8 million.

As a result of its increased oil production, the US has cut natural gas imports by almost one-third and crude oil by fifteen percent, all within the last five years. If this trend continues it could mean a decrease or even the end of the US’s reliance on foreign oil. This would be the realization of a goal America has been working towards since the early 1970’s.

If this new reality seems surprising, it is. For two decades American oil production had been on a steady decrease. Where did this new surge of production come from? In one controversial word, fracking, formally known as hydraulic fracturing. Fracking is the process of pumping water and various chemicals into the ground in order to break up the shale rock and releasing any oil or gas trapped beneath. While hydraulic fracturing remains a hot topic across the country, there is no denying that it is a productive technique. It is being predicted that the US’s oil productivity will continue to increase and the cutting all foreign oil imports (other than from Canada) into the country may also become a reality by the end of the decade. This would mean immense economical and political gains for the US.

Although not widely publicized, Americans are actually already feeling the positive effects of the US production increase. Employment in the american oil industry has increased by forty percent over the last five years, adding over 160,000 jobs. In addition, the increase in production has helped to keep gas prices from increasing even more than they have over the past few years. International relations have also become more malleable with the US convincing Europe that sanctions against Iran would not increase worldwide oil prices or cause a shortage. These sanctions are one reason why Iran has been more open to talking about its nuclear program recently, hopefully making the world a safer place. With environmental concerns aside, the United States’ growing profile in the output of oil will mean great things for our country!

At Sterling Oil Company we offer a number of different petroleum products such as kerosene, fuel oil, and various levels of gasoline. You hear of these products quite often in daily life but do you really know what they are? Here is a quick look at each of the petroleum types carried by Sterling Oil.

Probably the most commonly known petroleum product is home heating oil otherwise known as #2 Fuel Oil. The number ‘2’ is actually a class of oil rated by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) classification system. It is delivered in a low viscosity liquid (meaning it is not too thick) state and is used widely throughout the United States at just under 7 million households.

Sterling Oil also carries ‘Low Sulfur (LS)’, a cleaner alternative to #2 Fuel Oil. LS is marketed as such because its sulfur content, is at the most, 15 parts per million.  To obtain this lower sulfur standard additional steps are taken during the refining process. It is a big step in the effort to lower emissions and become more environmentally friendly.

Kerosene is probably one of the more versatile petroleum products but is generally associated with lighting (such as kerosene lamps), cooking, and heating. Did you know it is also used as jet fuel and as an ingredient in insecticides? Like #2 Fuel Oil, kerosene has a low viscosity and is derived through the distilling of petroleum. It was the first to be extracted for large commercial purposes in the mid 1800’s.

In addition to all the products above, we also carry three grades of gasoline – regular, midgrade, and premium. The difference in the grade is based on the octane rating of the three. The higher the octane content, the higher the grade. Gasoline with a higher rating is less likely to self-ignite and will burn more evenly. When you are at the gas pump, the gasoline rating of 87, 89, or 91 (sometimes 93) correlates to their level of octane.

Various fuels have been distilled from petroleum for over 2000 years, first discovered by Arabian scientists. Petroleum products are, in short, very complex mixtures. In fact, there are many products we come across in our everyday lives that we do not realize are derived from petroleum, such as linoleum, perfumes, soap, and even vitamin capsules. Sterling Oil is proud of the petroleum products we carry and are proud to be serving the beautiful city of Lynchburg.

Our Very Own Inducted into Worldwide Who’s Who – Mrs. Beeler Hensley’s family business, Sterling Oil, is celebrating its 30th year of business

Donna Beeler Hensley Inducted into Worldwide Who’s Who for Excellence in Business Management