Fuel oil dips below $4 with warm weather

Home heating oil fell below $4 a gallon on Long Island this week for the first time since late October as warm weather curtailed demand and the European debt crisis depressed crude oil prices.

The fuel that most Nassau and Suffolk residents, and many businesses, use for heat averaged $3.992 a gallon Monday in the latest survey of full-service dealers by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The average was $4.053 a week earlier, and it has been as high as $4.12 recently -- on Nov. 14.

However, the latest Long Island average price is almost 59 cents a gallon higher than a year ago, so it will still be an expensive season for heating.

Kevin Rooney, chief executive of the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island, representing fuel retailers, said weak demand from Europe and warm weather in the Northeast have eroded prices. "It was a very, very warm November, there was a little cold weather in early December and now it's abnormally warm again," he said.

Daytime temperatures in the low to mid-40s are forecast through Monday.