New York, Feb 19, 2026, 14:21 EST — Regular session
- NYMEX heating oil (ULSD) futures rose about 3.6% to around $2.61 a gallon in U.S. afternoon trade
- U.S. distillate inventories posted a sharper-than-expected draw, with demand hitting a two-year high
- Crude’s rally on U.S.-Iran tensions added support across refined products
NYMEX heating oil futures climbed on Thursday after U.S. government data showed a steep drop in distillate stockpiles, piling onto a crude-led rally. The benchmark March contract was up 9.05 cents, or 3.59%, at $2.6092 a gallon, after trading as high as $2.6097. (Investing)
The move matters because heating oil sits in the same “distillate” pool as diesel, and traders watch that market for supply tightness in winter. A bigger draw in distillate stocks can quickly lift prices when cold weather keeps demand firm and refineries are already running hard.
It also lands as geopolitics is back in the driver’s seat. When crude jumps, distillate often follows, but heating oil can overshoot when diesel is the marginal barrel.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 4.6 million barrels in the latest week, and demand hit 4.75 million barrels per day, the highest since January 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed. “Support for oil prices came from a very bullish EIA report,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS. Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group, said “distillate stocks fell because of the pull on diesel.” (Reuters)
The EIA said distillate inventories are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year, a leaner cushion than traders like to see late in the heating season. Refineries ran at 91% of capacity and distillate production averaged about 4.9 million barrels per day, the agency’s weekly summary showed.
Crude’s bid kept the tone firm. Oil rose to a six-month high as traders weighed escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and fresh warnings over risks around the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for a large share of global oil flows. “The market will continue to rally in anticipation of something happening,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. (Reuters)
Heating oil has been doing more than tagging along. Distillates tend to react sharply when inventories tighten because they feed transport, industry and home heating at once, and the market is sensitive to refinery hiccups and sudden demand spikes.
Prices were already firming before Thursday’s jump. The contract closed up 5.36% on Wednesday, setting up a two-day run that has traders looking harder at distillate balances than crude alone. (Investing)
But the upside isn’t clean. If tensions cool quickly or late-winter weather turns milder, heating demand can fade fast, and high refinery runs could rebuild distillate stocks just as seasonal consumption starts to roll over.
Traders’ next checkpoint is the EIA’s next Weekly Petroleum Status Report on Feb. 25, a read on whether the latest draw was weather-driven noise or the start of a tighter trend into March. (Eia)
