Actually, oil is temptingly cheap right now.
Or what is called cheap in times like these.
The price of North Sea Brent crude oil has fallen to around $100 a barrel.
In June it was still more than 120 dollars, in March it was even 130 dollars.
Oil traders cite recession concerns as the main reason why oil has fallen back to a price level that could be called "pre-war prices" because it roughly corresponds to February values.
Christian Siedenbiedel
Editor in Business.
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No wonder that cost-conscious consumers come up with the idea of ordering heating oil now, in the middle of summer, when the heat can sometimes hardly be endured.
After all, it is not known whether the oil price will not rise again in the winter – especially if gas from Russia becomes scarce, there could be an impact on the oil price.
The suppliers of fan heaters are reporting a special boom, despite outside temperatures of more than 30 degrees.
At least it feels like he sells more fan heaters than fans, says a salesman at Mediamarkt.
But: anyone who orders heating oil in the hope of finding a bargain will be in for a surprise.
Heating oil is anything but cheap.
153 euros cost 100 liters when ordering 3000 liters, reports the Internet portal Heizoel24, to which 500 oil dealers report their prices.
Compared to the same month last year, the price of heating oil has roughly doubled.
But even compared to the time before the Ukraine war, this means an increase of a good 50 percent - with an oil price that has roughly reached the pre-war level.
The exchange rate of the dollar can only explain a small part of this;
in euros, the price of oil has risen by around ten percent since the end of February.
It is worth noting that the price of diesel fuel, which is very closely linked to heating oil in terms of production, is not exactly low either.
However, it has gradually fallen as the price of crude oil has fallen.
Just a month ago, after the reduction in energy tax on fuel, you still paid an average of 1.95 euros for a liter of diesel at gas stations in Germany, according to ADAC calculations.
Now it's 1.89 euros.
The ADAC still considers that too much in relation to the price of crude oil.
But in the case of heating oil, a further significant price increase was observed in the same period.
Oliver Klapschus, head of the comparison portal Heizoel24, says that the regional heating oil market has “decoupled” from what is happening on the stock exchange.
Who's filling their pockets?
After all, the Federal Cartel Office reports that it receives numerous petitions from citizens on this issue, but is not currently investigating.
"The Federal Cartel Office continuously monitors the price development on the heating oil markets with regard to possible violations of antitrust law," said a spokesman.
In the antitrust assessment, however, it should generally be taken into account that the providers are fundamentally free to set prices: "As long as no competition violation is proven, there is therefore no possibility under antitrust law to intervene in general, for example against high, rising or regionally different prices." the proof of a violation would be made by the courts as a whole very high requirements.