Compare Heating Oil Prices & Save

The talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz - the shipping lane that carries about a fifth of the world's oil, closed by Iran since late February - have run into trouble. Iran wants compensation from America before it fully reopens the route, President Trump has refused, and oil prices rose about 5% on Monday as hopes of a quick deal faded.

For your tank, the Fueltool tracker has the UK average at about 89ppl today, which puts a 1,000-litre fill at roughly £890. Prices had been easing from about 91ppl at the start of August before this week's news nudged them back up.

The bigger picture is that heating oil is more than 60% dearer than a year ago, when the average was about 53ppl. Most of that gap opened in July, when prices climbed from about 73ppl to a peak of about 93ppl in three weeks, and only about a quarter of that rise has come back out since.

Two things now decide where prices go. The first is whether Iran and America sign the deal that reopens Hormuz, which would let more oil flow and ease prices; the second is the autumn restock, when households start filling their tanks for winter and demand climbs from its summer low.