Traders were unconcerned by the closure of 186,000 barrel per day crude unit at Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery through mid-November. The New York Harbor spot price for No. 2 heating oil lost 3.75 cents from the previous week, ending at 36.85 cents per gallon. CARB diesel fuel in Los Angeles remained at 46.50 cents per gallon. The national average retail diesel fuel price was unchanged from the previous week, after having risen 4.1 cents per gallon since the end of August. Heating oil prices for the first 1998-99 heating survey were considerably lower than one year ago.
Factors contributing to the decrease include lower crude oil prices and higher heating oil stocks.