Dear Customer,
Unfortunately we are not going to be able to deliver the kerosene heating oil you recently ordered as planned, due to the ongoing war in the Persian Gulf. The volatility of the global kerosene market has led to unprecedented price inflation, and shortage of supply.
As an explanation the Oil Markets Journal has published the following:
Oil prices are surging as the oil market re-prices the impact of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Over the weekend it became clear to the oil market that the Trump Administration has no plan on how to keep the Straits of Hormuz open. However the oil market is priced on a global basis and as a result global prices are surging. This was clearly seen when an Asian buyer was short of Jet Kerosene and the price globally surged $500/t. Then, a tanker with jet kerosene en route to Europe made a U-turn and headed to Asia.
Over the weekend the war intensified with Kuwait following Iraq and starting to shut down production as they cannot export and storage tanks are near full. In addition, the Sitra refinery in Bahrain was attacked and an oil tanker was also attacked near Iraq.
We are now in a COVID-time economic shock and we expect a stock market crash, oil prices to spike to $150/b followed by a 20% global economic shutdown.
The Oil Market Journal, 9th March 2026
And the United Kingdom & Ireland Fuel Distributors Association has recently published the following:
The main market driver of heating oil in the UK and Ireland is the wholesale price of jet fuel which is traded on the European market. This is because jet fuel and heating oil are kerosene based.
The wholesale price of jet fuel has more than doubled, representing a three-and-a-half-year peak. The price increase in jet fuel can be partly explained by Europe’s and the UK’s dependency on imports of this fuel from countries in the Middle East. At least 40% of Europe’s jet fuel came from the Middle East in 2025 via the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently blocked.
This has resulted in a rapid rise in wholesale prices, which, in turn, has increased the price distributors pay for heating oil and, consequently, raised prices for customers.
Heating oil is supplied very differently from gas and electricity, and these differences help explain why heating oil prices can change quickly both up and down. Instead of a few national suppliers, the market is made up of many local, often family-owned distributors, each operating with limited storage and buying fuel at the daily market price.
Most distributors have little or no storage. Many hold no more than two days of supply. Therefore, they collect fuel from refineries or terminals at the market price almost daily. In effect, they are price takers.
UKIFDA Consumer Advice Note – 6th March 2026
This briefing perfectly describes the problems currently being faced – we only store one and a half to two days product, and rely on daily collections from refineries bought at todays’ prices. As we have no ability to control the price we find ourselves having to offer you three options:
- Maintain your order with a March delivery date, but we will need to amend the price to reflect the market on the day before delivery
or
- You may cancel your order, and if you paid in advance receive a full refund.
or
- Maintain your order at the agreed price, and we will deliver to you when we are able to purchase fuel at prices previously seen in February this year.
If you wish to keep your order as it is and wait for the market to settle you need to do nothing. If you wish to maintain your order and pay the additional cost to receive delivery this month call our team and let them know and they will contact you with confirmation of price and delivery date later this month. If you wish to cancel your order please call our contact centre and they will be able to deal with this request. In the event that we don’t hear from you we will assume that you wish to accept option 3.
Again, please accept our apologies and we hope that you understand that we are facing unprecedented events, as the global situation has led to an unexpected influx of orders.