Heating oil prices rise another 19 cents per gallon in Maine

Mar. 16—Prices for heating oil and propane in Maine continued to climb over the past week, but not as steeply as the previous week, according to federal data released Wednesday.

The average price for a gallon of heating oil rose almost 19 cents to $4.91, while propane was up 5 cents to $3.70 per gallon as of Monday, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The previous week oil prices rose 87 cents per gallon and propane was up 18 cents.

Heating oil in Maine was lower than the U.S. average of $4.93 per gallon, although propane here was much higher than the national average of $3.02 per gallon. New England had among the highest heating fuel prices in the nation.

Mainers have been hard hit by rising prices at a time when the winter has been snowy and cold. Prices in Maine have been on the rise since the beginning of this year because of worldwide oil supply fluctuations and seasonal factors, but they started turning up more sharply since Russia threatened to invade Ukraine in mid-January and made good on the threat late last month.

Separately, gas prices at the pump declined almost 2 cents since last week to $4.24 per gallon on average for regular in Maine on Wednesday morning compared to $4.30 nationally.

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