{"id":800715,"date":"2026-03-03T07:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T07:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/800715\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T07:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T07:26:19","slug":"northern-ireland-consumers-urged-not-to-panic-buy-as-oil-prices-rocket-due-to-middle-east-conflict-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/800715\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland consumers urged not to \u2018panic buy\u2019 as oil prices rocket due to Middle East conflict \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern Ireland consumers are being urged not to \u2018panic buy\u2019 home heating oil as costs soar amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

One Belfast supplier told The Irish News that oil \u201cprices have increased three times in one day\u201d and that his phone \u201chasn\u2019t stopped\u201d with people worried about buying oil ahead of possible further price rises.<\/p>\n

Gavin Duffy, from Colinglen Fuels, said he has had to turn potential customers away as the price is fluctuating so much. <\/p>\n

The surge in prices came amid the war in the Middle East<\/a> spiralling as Israel and the US continued to attack Iran.<\/p>\n

\"DUP’s<\/a>\"‘Heavenly<\/a><\/p>\n

Last night 500L of home heating oil was averaging around \u00a3434 for 500L, a 41% (\u00a3127) increase on the \u00a3307 listed on Thursday\u2019s Consumer Council survey. <\/p>\n

The conflict has seen Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, neighbouring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world\u2019s production of oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n

The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n

Safe havens in the Middle East like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; oil prices shot up; and US allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

Iran has long threatened, if attacked, to drag the region into total war, including targeting Israel, the Gulf Arab states and the flow of crude oil crucial for global energy markets.<\/p>\n

It is so far unclear how drastic the impact on oil prices will be in the north where the majority of homes rely on oil fired heating. <\/p>\n

Gavin Duffy told The Irish News<\/a> people are panic buying: \u201cAs soon as I\u2019d heard all the commotion on the news, I knew there would be an oil increase. A barrel was sitting at around $80 per barrel, and yesterday it increased to $100.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy supplier will give me a price every day. It fluctuates, but not by a lot. But today, I can\u2019t even get quotes off my main suppliers. All I\u2019ve been told is that the prices have increased three times in one day, which is unusual. They haven\u2019t been small increases. They\u2019ve been big increases. <\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, customers will ring me to place an order, and I will take a prepayment. I have not been able to do that today because I haven\u2019t been able to commit to a price.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are definitely panicking. My phone hasn\u2019t stopped\u2026 I have put a few posts on Facebook just explaining to customers that under the circumstances, there has been an increase and there\u2019s going to be further increases in the price of fuel, just to make them aware of it. I have no control over it. My suppliers have no control over it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one knows when this is going to bounce out, there\u2019s so much uncertainty of it. It\u2019s March. Winter\u2019s not over. We could get a cold snap\u2026 It snows here at Easter sometimes, so, you know, it couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time. My concern would be for the families already struggling. Are they going to be able to afford to heat their homes? <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a genuine person. I run a genuine business. I would be more concerned about the families out there that are already struggling. It was hard enough for some people last week to order oil\u2026 what\u2019s it going to be like this week? When there\u2019s maybe an 80% increase in price.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t have the answers. Today, not knowing what I need to know has had me pulling my hair out. It\u2019s been mental. I don\u2019t want to lose business. No one wants to lose business. But I\u2019m having to turn customers away because I can\u2019t give them quotes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the advice from the Consumer Council in Northern Ireland is not to panic buy, but to buy in bulk when you can. <\/p>\n

Many factors influence the price of oil, including shipping costs, refining costs, and wider geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead of Energy Policy at The Consumer Council, Raymond Gormley, is urging people not to panic buy <\/p>\n

Raymond Gormley, Head of Energy Policy told The Irish News conflicts like this are one of the biggest influencers of oil prices.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cGeopolitical tensions have been prominent more lately, and that will have an impact on us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done a quick scan on prices, and they\u2019re already up from where they were last Thursday when we issued our weekly oil price checker. Whenever we do our weekly oil price checker this Thursday, we\u2019ll know exactly how much it\u2019s impacted us. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an attack in Iran last June, and we saw that oil prices went up that month, and for 500 litres, it rose by \u00a366 in that month.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore this conflict, oil prices were rising anyway. Last week, 500 litres rose by \u00a313 on the previous week. So, prices were on a gradual increase. I don\u2019t want to predict\u2026 but I would imagine they will go up sharpish.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that majority of homes in the North use heating oil, so it will impact most, but gives this advice: \u201cIf you need home heating oil, price around, get four or five different quotes and try and get the cheapest price you can. Every pound you can save is your benefit, you know. I don\u2019t like using the word panic buying, but please don\u2019t panic, you know. When you say that, people tend to panic. So, look, if you don\u2019t need oil, don\u2019t get oil. <\/p>\n

\u201cSix out of ten homes in Northern Ireland use home heating oil, so price around, get the cheapest price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also yesterday, Qatar announced it was shutting down LNG production triggering a 45% price jump. It is unclear, at this stage, what affect that rise will have on consumers here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland consumers are being urged not to \u2018panic buy\u2019 home heating oil as costs soar amid escalating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[66726,774,837,839,1144,2661,14836,16,15,727,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-800715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-fuel","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-middle-east","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-oil","14":"tag-price","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116164060097085717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}