Heating oil is the fuel used by homes all over the United States during the fall and winter months to keep homes comfortable and prevent water pipes from freezing. Heating oil is critical to survival during the winter months, but not many people understand where heating oil comes from. To help find the best price for heating oil and the best suppliers, you should start by gaining a basic understanding of what heating oil is and how it is made.

 

Heating oil is a byproduct of the crude oil refining process that is done in refineries around the country. It is considered a distillate fuel, which puts it in the same category as diesel fuel.

 

More than half of the heating oil produced in the United States is made in refineries in Texas, Alaska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and California. The rest is produced throughout the country in states such as Louisiana. In any refinery, creating the byproduct used to make gasoline takes priority over heating oil. When you read that gasoline is in high demand, you can expect heating oil to be expensive because it will not be in high production.

Heating oil is produced all year round, but primarily in the summer. When heating oil is made, it creates many other byproducts that are not in high demand and tend to go to waste. The United States and other refinery nations do not want to create stockpiles of unwanted byproducts, so they limit how much heating oil is made each year.

 

Refineries in the United States produce approximately 85 percent of the heating oil used throughout the country each year. The remaining 15 percent is imported from countries such as Russia, Canada, and the Virgin Islands (a United States territory).

 

The United States also exports heating oil and is one of the top three heating oil producers in the world. Saudi Arabia is the top producer, with Russia and the United States coming in second and third respectively. When comparing export numbers for heating oil, it is important to remember that heating oil exports are separate from crude oil exports.

 

The majority of the heating oil the United States imports is brought in during the winter months to help enhance the existing supplies. To help cut down on costs to the consumers, heating oil during the winter is delivered directly to east coast distribution centers where it is easier for Northeastern distributors to access.

 

Heating oil is moved from receiving ports in the Northeastern United States to regional distribution centers primarily by truck. It is stored in large tanks and distributed to local heating oil companies through trucks and pipelines.

 

The process for getting heating oil extracted from crude oil in a large refinery to your home is a long one. Heating oil is a distillate fuel, which means it is extracted using the same process as diesel fuel. The United States produces much of its own heating oil, but even the United States needs to import heating oil during those cold winter months.