Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Crisis and Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA), to enhance cooperation and teamwork between both parties, and allow further exchange of knowledge in the El Nino and sluggish freight upend US heating oil market

Consumption of distillate fuel oil, used in trucks, trains and ships, and to heat homes and office buildings, is down by more than 450,000 barrels per day, 11 per cent, compared with the end of 2014

Heating oil prices in the US are trading as if it was mid-summer rather than winter, as warm weather and sluggish demand from freight companies combine to make heating oil cheaper than gasoline.

Heating oil normally trades at a substantial premium to gasoline in winter and then moves to a discount during the second and third quarters as heating demand fades and the summer driving season ramps up.

But this winter, heating oil is trading at the sort of discount normally only seen between March and July as heating demand fades away and refiners prepare for the summer gasoline campaign.

On December 31, the front-month futures price of heating oil closed at $1.10 per gallon, a discount of almost 17 cents to the futures price of gasoline. It was the largest seasonal discount for more than a decade and compares with a normal premium of around 26 cents per gallon at this time of year.

Consumption of distillate fuel oil, used in trucks, trains and ships, and to heat homes and office buildings, is down by more than 450,000 barrels per day, 11 per cent, compared with the end of 2014.

Warmer-than-normal weather since October due to El Nino has cut heating demand by around 25 per cent according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

And freight movements by road, rail, barge and pipeline have been essentially flat for the last 12 months after five years of strong growth, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics.