Spreading opportunities

Volatile European gasoil and US heating oil prices mean traders must follow inventory and temperature forecasts carefully to stay on the right side of moves in outright and spread values, writes Logical Information Machine's energy analyst Daven Voorhies

The northern hemisphere winter months are the high demand season for distillates, and spiking prices and high volatility are commonplace. It is also the time of greatest volatility in the spread between European gasoil and US heating oil. Although these fuels are chemically almost identical, they have different demand fundamentals and are therefore valued quite differently.

Both products are essential to the transportation and winter space heating markets, but not to the same extent. In Europe