KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Edward Swisher of Fry's Gas and Oil, fills the tank at their headquarters before heading out for the days deliveries.

The price of home heating oil is climbing and it isn’t under control of smaller delivery companies.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, and markets for crude oil dictating what the prices are fast becoming a crisis on the homefront.

“I definitely have some thoughts,” said Danielle Swisher, owner of Fry’s Gas and Oil on Route 405 in Wolf Township in eastern Lycoming County.

She agreed in an interview that it appears a period of oil price fluctuation for the worse is here and the business providing fuel for homes and companies has been feeling it, as are the customers.

“For us smaller oil and gas businesses it’s hard for us to know,” she said, acknowledging she is not able to give her customers a clear answer on price when they ask if they should wait for delivery if they are budgeting, because the price of crude is dictated by the market and not by the deliverer.

Swisher said the business receives notice about a day or night before the supplier arrives to put the oil in the bulk tank and deliveries by trucks to homes and businesses take place.

“It has gone up 30 to 40 cents in a day,” said Swisher, of heating oil, adding it is hard to keep up with pricing because it changes hourly, or daily.

In Pennsylvania, residential heating oil has steadily increased since Feb. 16, when it was $3.90 per gallon to where it is today at $5.19, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The price for wholesale heating oil was $2.79 on Feb. 16 and is $4.75 as of March 23. The administration releases the next figures on April 1.

Inside the office, Swisher said the former owner kept years of statistics since 1976 during the OPEC oil embargo, through the slumping economy in 2010, and more recently during the pandemic and Ukraine conflict in 2022, where heating oil was at $5.30 a gallon June of that year. Those prices continued for that summer before they began to drop.

On Wednesday, home heating oil at the business was $4.70 a gallon.

“Small oil businesses don’t know day-to-day,” she said, adding how she has taken calls from customers who ask her whether or not they should wait a week or so for price differential.

Besides dealing with the swing of home heating oil price, the business has the challenge of keeping customers informed and happy.

“We’re here for the customer,” Swisher said.

Such customer service was available as the Sun-Gazette called Fry’s and an office assistant answered.

As spring continues, temperatures generally start to increase, which usually means less oil demand, but the cost of the fuel might not go down or it could continue to rise because of the war.

Crude oil was Thursday at $94.25 a barrel and it had gone up to $102 a barrel earlier this month.

Additionally, Fry’s serves at least 15 % of its customer base who are in agriculture fields.

“Farmers start to need gasoline and diesel for their equipment,” Swisher added. “We’re busy in the summer with deliveries of gasoline and diesel.”

Fry’s isn’t alone in this plight brought on primarily by the global conflict.

The telephone answering machine at Reeder Brothers Fuel Service Inc. in Montoursville immediately gives customers knowledge that the price of heating oil is steadily rising and is out of their control. The price may also change prior to the delivery and customers are charged that day’s market value with no exceptions.

Emergency situations and calls are returned.

Heating oil price differentials were considered by a spokeswoman at Vanemon’s Oil, South Williamsport, to be “too unstable.” The price was $4.87 per gallon and could fluctuate daily.

In general, heating oil rose by $1.10 the weekend Operation Epic Fury and Roaring Lion done by Israel striking Iran targets.

Fry noted how she believed the fuel prices are tied directly to the costs going up for transportation, i.e. trucking and food.