Of the 107 million households in the United States, approximately 8.1 million use fuel oil as their primary fuel. Residential space heating is the primary use for fuel oil, making the demand highly seasonal. Most of the fuel oil use occurs during October through March. The area of the country most reliant on fuel oil is the Northeast.
Fuel oil is brought into oil storage terminals in an area by refiners and other suppliers. For example, fuel oil may be delivered to a central distribution area, such as New York Harbor, where it is then redistributed by barge to other consuming areas, such as New England. Once fuel oil is in the consuming area, it is redistributed by truck to smaller storage tanks closer to a retail dealer’s customers, or directly to residential customers.
