Home heating oil up in price in Northern Ireland for second week
A ceasefire between Israel and Iran has been holding, with markets now hoping that the worst impact of the conflict on oil markets is now over.
The Northern Ireland Consumer Council's weekly price check for the fuel showed the average price of 300 litres this week was £201.07, up nearly £13 on the week before.
The price of 500 litres had gone up by around £22 to £315.15, while for 900 litres, the average price was up around £41 to an average of £551.75.
However, the level of increase was much lower than the week before, when prices were up by nearly £30 for 500 litres and by £70 for 900 litres.
In percentage terms, the price of 300 litres was up 7%, while for 500 litres, the price was up 7.6%. And for 900 litres, the price was up 8%.
That's much slower than the previous week, when the cost of both 300 and 500 litres had risen by 18%, and 900 litres was up 16%.
Last week's increase had been the first week-on-week rise in average prices since early January.
Raymond Gormley, head of energy policy at the Consumer Council, said last week: 'As we import all our home heating oil, Northern Ireland is at the mercy of volatile global oil markets and the price that consumers pay is impacted by a complex range of factors which can result in price fluctuations.
'It is very difficult to predict if this is the start of home heating oil prices going up for as long as this escalation in the Middle East lasts or just if it is an initial spike due to the recent attacks on Iran.'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addressed the impact of the Iran-Israel conflict on UK energy prices at the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce on Thursday.
He said: 'The impact of international affairs on us domestically has never been so direct as it is at the moment. So you saw an oil price rise, to take the other obvious example.
'In the three-plus years of the Ukraine conflict, energy prices have gone up considerably as a result of that conflict.
"So we have to recognise that's why diplomacy matters on the global stage to try and de-escalate and resolve situations, which is what I've spent a lot of time doing. It's also why we need to insulate ourselves here as best we can.'
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