With the cold weather set to continue there is expected to be higher demand for heating oil and a dramatic reduction in the amount of crude oil reserves. If these trends continue the price of a barrel of oil is expected to go higher than eighty dollars all too soon.

Although with the increased demand for heating oil is the knowledge that the economy in the United States seems to be on the up. Consumer confidence is growing and there are definite signs that the worst recession since the Second World War is coming to an end.

A 78% price increase in the oil industry is the biggest increase in a decade. This was the biggest increase since 1999 when prices rose by 112% that year. Some of the reasons for the increase in prices were the weakness of the dollar and the reduction of crude oil reserves. Experts are predicting that oil prices will rise even further in 2010 with forecasts of up to ninety five dollars per barrel. Demand for oil will rise if the economy in the United States continues its upward trend and if businesses begin to recover and this will all help to push the prices of oil up even further.

There could also be further increases in prices if conflicts in some oil producing countries continue. There could be a sudden huge increase in the cost of oil if the supply from these countries were in any way interrupted.

Some people spend a lot of money heating their homes in the winter. Electricity and gas prices are very high and show no signs of coming down any time soon. Clever people are switching to heating oil as a fuel though. After the changeover they have to make sure that the storage tanks are always full of cheap heating oil to make sure they don’t run dry in the cold weather.