Most heating oil used in UK homes is kerosene, a light fuel refined from crude oil. Some of it comes from the UK’s own refineries, but a growing share is imported as a finished product from overseas, particularly from the Netherlands, the United States, and Kuwait. Around 1.7 million homes across the UK rely on this fuel, mostly in rural areas not connected to the gas grid.
What Heating Oil Actually Is
When people in the UK say “heating oil,” they almost always mean kerosene, classified as Class C2 under the British Standard BS 2869. It’s a light, clean-burning fuel that sits between petrol and diesel in the refining process. Crude oil is heated in a distillation column, and kerosene condenses at a middle temperature range, which is why it’s called a “middle distillate.” The same basic product powers jet engines, though heating-grade kerosene has slightly different specifications.
Your local supplier delivers it by tanker truck directly into a storage tank at your property. Unlike gas, there’s no pipe network connecting your home to a central supply. You order it in bulk, typically between 500 and 2,000 litres at a time, and manage your own stock levels through the winter.
Where the Crude Oil Starts
The UK still produces its own crude oil, primarily from fields in the North Sea. But domestic production has been declining for years, and the country now imports far more crude than it extracts. A significant portion of UK-produced crude is actually exported to refining hubs in Europe. Around 90% of UK crude oil exports go to the EU, with the Netherlands being the primary destination, where it gets processed into diesel, gas oil, and heating fuels that the UK then buys back.
This circular trade exists because different refineries are optimized for different crude oil types, and global oil markets make it cheaper to export crude and reimport finished products than to refine everything domestically.
Top Countries Supplying the UK
The UK imports petroleum products from a wide range of countries, and the mix shifts year by year depending on prices, refinery capacity, and geopolitics. According to the latest government energy statistics covering 2024, three countries dominate:
- The Netherlands is the single largest source, accounting for about a fifth of all petroleum product imports at 6.4 million tonnes. Its massive refining and trading hub at Rotterdam sits just across the North Sea, making it the UK’s most convenient supplier.
- The United States is the second largest source at 16% of total product imports, or 5.3 million tonnes.
- Kuwait has been climbing the ranks since 2022 and in 2024 became the third largest source at 14% of imports.
These figures cover all petroleum products, not just kerosene. But heating oil follows the same broad supply patterns, with Rotterdam-area refineries being especially important for the kerosene that ends up in UK homes. Overall petroleum product imports rose nearly 6% in 2024 compared to the previous year, reflecting both rising demand and reduced output from the UK’s own refineries.
UK Refining Capacity
The UK has its own refineries, with major sites at Fawley in Hampshire, Stanlow in Cheshire, Grangemouth in Scotland, and Pembroke in Wales. These facilities process crude oil into a range of products including petrol, diesel, jet fuel, and kerosene for heating. However, UK refinery output has been falling. Several refineries have closed or scaled back in recent years, which means more finished products need to be imported. The country’s refining sector simply can’t produce enough of every fuel type to meet domestic demand.
How It Reaches Your Tank
Once kerosene is either refined in the UK or arrives at a port, it enters a distribution network of pipelines, storage terminals, and road tankers. A major pipeline system connects refineries and coastal import terminals to inland fuel depots across England. From these depots, local distributors load tanker trucks and deliver directly to homes, farms, pubs, churches, and other off-grid buildings.
The domestic heating sector is a significant part of this supply chain. Government data shows that domestic fuel use (88% of which is burning oil, meaning kerosene) rose 13% in 2024 compared to the previous year, likely driven by a colder winter. That kind of seasonal swing is normal for heating oil, since demand spikes in cold months and drops to almost nothing in summer.
Who Uses Heating Oil in the UK
Heating oil is overwhelmingly a rural fuel. Around 4.5 million households across Great Britain aren’t connected to the gas grid, and a substantial portion of those rely on oil. The 2021 Census found that 3.5% of households in England and Wales used oil as their only central heating source, roughly 866,000 homes. In Scotland, the figure was 5.1%, or about 128,000 households.
Northern Ireland is a different story entirely. Nearly half of all households there (49.5%) heat with oil, totalling over 380,000 homes. This reflects the historically limited gas network in Northern Ireland, where oil has been the default heating fuel for decades. Across the whole UK, the industry estimates around 1.7 million homes depend on heating oil.
The Shift Toward Renewable Liquid Fuel
The government announced plans as far back as 2019 to phase out fossil fuel boilers. New homes face a ban on fossil fuel heating from 2025, with a target to phase out oil boilers in existing off-grid homes from the mid-2030s. For the 1.7 million households currently using kerosene, the most practical near-term alternative appears to be Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, or HVO.
HVO is a renewable fuel made from waste fats and vegetable oils. It burns in existing oil boilers with minimal modification. A three-year UK demonstration project converted 135 buildings from kerosene to HVO, ranging from small homes with compact boilers to commercial buildings like pubs and village halls. The results were striking: an 88% reduction in carbon emissions, with no loss of heating performance and no need for insulation upgrades or changes to radiators and pipework.
The conversion itself took just a couple of hours during what amounted to a routine boiler service visit, and the expected cost is under £500. In most cases, the local fuel distributor handled the entire job. One homeowner in the trial reported saving nearly five metric tonnes of carbon per year. Analysis by Portland Analytics found that there’s enough sustainably sourced feedstock available globally to supply all 1.7 million UK oil-heated homes with HVO, so supply constraints shouldn’t be a barrier.
Storing Heating Oil at Home
If you heat with oil, you’re responsible for maintaining a compliant storage tank on your property. Tanks holding more than 2,500 litres must have secondary containment, known as a bund, which is essentially a surrounding tray or wall designed to catch any leaks. The bund must hold 110% of the tank’s capacity and be impermeable to both oil and water.
Even smaller tanks need a bund if they’re located within 10 metres of a stream, lake, or coastal water, within 50 metres of a drinking water source like a well or borehole, or anywhere a spill could reach a drain or waterway. Your installer should carry out a risk assessment and be registered with a competent person scheme, meaning they can self-certify their work meets building regulations. Regulations vary between England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, so the specific rules depend on where you live. If you ever have a spill, don’t attempt to clean it up yourself. Contact your insurer, your oil supplier, and the Environment Agency.