Stocks of traditional heating oil in New England dropped to their lowest level in over a decade in the week ended May 2, according to US Energy Information Administration data Wednesday.
New England is one of the major consumption regions for heating oil, though states are regulating the traditional product out of the market as they tighten sulfur specifications.
New England heating oil stocks -- which must contain less than 2,000 ppm sulfur -- fell 431,000 barrels to 2 million barrels, the lowest since 1.80 million barrels on May 9, 2003, according to the data.
The stock decline came despite a production bump in the region that brought the weekly average to 69,000 b/d, up 58,000 b/d from the week ended April 25. This marks the highest production since March 14's 91,000 b/d.
Gulf Coast stocks of traditional heating oil are up 686,000 barrels to 4.91 million barrels, the highest since 4.95 million on March 2.
