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Nascent Drama

By Matthew Robinson
(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

Wed Jul 16, 6:13 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) -

capt.6703f9b86dbd430c9b1023609b11ba82.economy_energy_prices_la107.jpg


AP Photo: A man fills his gas tank at a 76 gas station
in Santa Monica, Calif.,...
 
U.S. homeowners scared of paying through the roof for heating oil this winter are cruising online classified sites for deals on unwanted fuel -- and finding them.
 
"I have an old pickup truck and I stock it with 50-gallon drums, and I have an oil transfer pump," said Bob Difiore, a mechanic who lives on Long Island, outside New York City.
 
The deals are possible because many homeowners in the Northeast are switching from heating oil to cheaper natural gas or other alternative fuels, leaving them with tanks full of unused oil. And those still using heating oil are eager to snap it up at a discount as the oil market skyrockets.
 
"I just went on Craigslist one day and I saw someone selling heating oil. So I put an ad in there saying I was buying," said Howard Urvine, a real estate agent in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
 
Homeowners can shave $3 (1.5 pounds) a gallon off the price of fuel now selling for closer to $4.50 a gallon through offers placed on Web sites like Craigslist.org for cities in the U.S. Northeast, the world's largest heating oil consuming region.
 
Crude oil prices hit a record over $147 a barrel this month as booming demand in emerging economies like China stretches supplies across the globe -- sending gasoline and heating oil prices to new peaks.
 
A Dutch woman who accidentally flushed 900 euros (714 pounds) down the toilet got her money back after workers fished the bank notes from the drain.
 
The woman from the eastern town of Oldenzaal had just withdrawn 1,000 euros in 100-euro bills to spend on her forthcoming holiday. Nine of the notes slipped out of her back pocket and into the toilet bowl while she was relieving herself.
 
"At first my colleagues were dumbfounded, but as the woman was in such a panic they believed her," said a spokesman for the local sewage department.
 
Using a mini-camera designed to detect blockages in drains and sewers, workers were able to find the nine bank notes, one of which had floated 15 metres (50 ft) from the house.
 
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