By PNW Staff
September 18, 2026
Heating oil is particularly vulnerable because it comes from the same distillate portion of the petroleum market as diesel. When diesel supplies tighten, the pressure can spill directly into home heating.
Only about 4 percent of American households primarily use heating oil, but those homes are heavily concentrated in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.
For millions of families, therefore, $6 diesel isn’t an abstract trucking statistic.
It could become a winter household-budget crisis.
And we’re still in September.
Overseas, We Can Already See What Happens Next
Around the world, much more severe versions of the same pressures are producing extraordinary scenes.
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