US fuel dealers seek emergency heating oil release

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. heating oil distributors are planning to ask the government to release emergency heating oil supplies as part of a package to ease a cash crunch this winter, a source said Friday.

The squeeze for dealers has been caused by delayed payments from low-income customers and sky-high prices for their own fuel inventory and mirrors problems faced by the sector in 2004 when a run-up in prices pushed a top U.S. heating oil distributor to the brink of bankruptcy.

“It’s brutal,” said Shane Sweet, chief executive of New England Fuel Institute (NEFI), which represents some 1,000 distributors and retailers in northern states. He said customers occasionally ring their fuel dealers in tears over their heating bills.

“I was talking with heating oil dealers and gasoline station convenience store operators, and in terms of cost of fuel and the impact that it has to their operations, it’s the worst year that most people can ever remember,” Sweet said.

Reuters