Kerosene, sold for heating as No. 1 fuel or 1-K, is a lighter cut of the same middle distillate family as No. 2 heating oil. It carries about 2.5 percent less heat per gallon, vaporizes more easily, and is specified for low-pour-point storage, and it costs more: in Maine’s state survey for October 19, 2026 it averaged $6.99 a gallon against $6.04 for heating oil, a gap of $0.95. Per million Btu of heat the premium is 19%.
The interesting part of that gap is how little it has moved. Across 94 weekly surveys since October 2024, while heating oil went from $3.28 to $6.04 a gallon, kerosene never sat less than 77 cents or more than $1.02 above it. Wholesale, kerosene-grade jet fuel and heating oil trade within pennies of each other. So the retail premium is a distribution price, and a homeowner deciding whether a tank should hold No. 1 or No. 2 is mostly deciding whether a cold-weather benefit is worth roughly 90 cents a gallon.
Same family, different boiling range
Crude distillation separates a barrel by boiling point. Gasoline boils off first, then the kerosene range, then the heavier middle distillate that becomes diesel and No. 2 heating oil. The EIA’s glossary defines both products by where they finish boiling: No. 1 fuel oil reaches 550 degrees Fahrenheit at its 90 percent recovery point, No. 2 fuel oil reaches 640. Both start at the same place, 400 degrees at the 10 percent point. That extra 90 degrees of tail is what makes No. 2 a heavier, waxier, more energy-dense fuel, and what makes No. 1 flow at lower temperatures.
Table 1. What the standards and EIA definitions say about each fuel
| Property | Kerosene (1-K, 2-K) | No. 1 fuel oil | No. 2 fuel oil (heating oil) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Governing standard | ASTM D3699 | ASTM D396, Grades No. 1 S15, S500, S5000 | ASTM D396, Grades No. 2 S15, S500, S5000 |
| Upper end of the boiling range (EIA glossary: 90% point for fuel oils, final boiling point for kerosene) | Final boiling point 572 F | 550 F | 640 F |
| 10% distillation point (EIA glossary) | Maximum 400 F | 400 F | 400 F |
| Minimum flash point (EIA glossary) | 100 F | Not stated in the glossary | Not stated in the glossary |
| What the standard says about use | 1-K: special low-sulfur grade for nonflue-connected burner appliances and wick-fed lamps. 2-K: regular grade for flue-connected appliances and lamps | Domestic and small industrial burners; particularly adapted to vaporizing burners or storage that requires low pour point fuel | Domestic and small industrial burners; EIA: atomizing-type burners for domestic heating or moderate-capacity commercial units |
| Heat content (EIA) | 5.670 million Btu per barrel, 135,000 Btu per gallon | Not separately listed; EIA’s distillate factor is 5.770 for 15 ppm sulfur and under | 138,500 Btu per gallon (EIA Btu page); 5.770 million Btu per barrel for 15 ppm sulfur and under |
Sources: EIA Glossary (Kerosene; Distillate fuel oil, No. 1 fuel oil, No. 2 fuel oil), checked October 23, 2026; ASTM International store abstracts for D3699 and D396-25, checked October 23, 2026 (the standards’ own tables of limits are not public and were not read); EIA Monthly Energy Review, September 2026, Table A1; EIA Btu page. Heat per gallon for kerosene is 5.670 million divided by 42 gallons.
One caution on names. The EIA glossary says kerosene grades include 1-K and 2-K, along with other grades called range or stove oil that have properties similar to No. 1 fuel oil. So No. 1 fuel oil and K-1 kerosene are neighbors, not twins. 1-K is written with a low-sulfur requirement for unvented heaters and lamps, which is a tighter promise than ordinary No. 1 fuel oil makes. The practical version of that: a tank labelled kerosene in a Maine delivery ticket may be either, and the ticket is where the grade is written down.
Which fuel belongs in which tank
Heating equipment and tanks are matched to fuels by their approvals, not by price. The decision sequence below is a way to organize the question, built from the scopes of the two standards. It does not replace the burner nameplate, the appliance manual or the installer.
- Is it a vented, atomizing oil burner, such as a typical furnace or boiler? This is the equipment ASTM D396 and the EIA describe No. 2 fuel oil for. No. 1 fuel oil sits in the same standard for domestic burners, so the nameplate is what settles whether No. 1 is allowed.
- Is it a vaporizing burner, space heater or stove? ASTM D396 says its No. 1 grades are particularly adapted to vaporizing burners, and D3699 names 1-K for nonflue-connected kerosene appliances, so the lighter fuel is the one these appliances are written for.
- Is the tank outdoors or the line exposed? The lighter fuel is the one the standard describes for storage that needs a low pour point. How cold is too cold for No. 2 is not a number this page can give from a free source, and the blend question is taken up in Table 4 below.
- Is the fuel a clear or a dyed product? Dyed kerosene and dyed No. 2 are the exempt-use versions, and the dye rules and penalties are the same ones described in the heating oil versus diesel guide.
A gap of about 90 cents that does not follow the price
Maine’s Department of Energy Resources surveys retailers statewide every week of the heating season and every other week in summer, and publishes statewide average cash prices for heating oil and kerosene along with a table in dollars per million Btu. The EIA’s own weekly household survey covers heating oil and propane but not kerosene. Table 2 samples it across two heating seasons, with the full 94-survey summary below the table.
Table 2. Maine statewide average cash price, heating oil and kerosene, selected weeks, dollars per gallon
| Survey date | Heating oil | Kerosene | Gap | Gap as % of heating oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 7, 2024 | $3.39 | $4.29 | $0.90 | 26.5% |
| December 30, 2024 | $3.39 | $4.18 | $0.79 | 23.3% |
| February 18, 2025 | $3.80 | $4.63 | $0.83 | 21.8% |
| April 28, 2025 | $3.42 | $4.30 | $0.88 | 25.7% |
| July 7, 2025 | $3.40 | $4.27 | $0.87 | 25.6% |
| October 6, 2025 | $3.34 | $4.19 | $0.85 | 25.4% |
| December 29, 2025 | $3.47 | $4.41 | $0.94 | 27.1% |
| February 17, 2026 | $3.82 | $4.84 | $1.02 | 26.7% |
| March 2, 2026 | $3.94 | $4.96 | $1.02 | 25.9% |
| March 9, 2026 | $4.83 | $5.80 | $0.97 | 20.1% |
| April 6, 2026 | $5.43 | $6.32 | $0.89 | 16.4% |
| June 29, 2026 | $4.50 | $5.41 | $0.91 | 20.2% |
| August 24, 2026 | $5.15 | $5.97 | $0.82 | 15.9% |
| September 21, 2026 | $6.02 | $6.88 | $0.86 | 14.3% |
| October 19, 2026 | $6.04 | $6.99 | $0.95 | 15.7% |
Source: Maine Department of Energy Resources, Heating Season Weekly Fuel Prices, survey dates shown, checked October 23, 2026. Statewide averages are spot cash prices, not pre-buy or discounted prices. Gap and percentage are this page’s arithmetic. 94 weekly surveys from October 7, 2024 to October 19, 2026 were usable; three with figures that did not reconcile within the same PDF were excluded.
Over the 94 surveys the mean gap was $0.881, with a low of $0.77 and a high of $1.02. Heating oil ranged from $3.28 to $6.04 over the same weeks, and a straight-line fit puts the gap’s response at less than one cent for each extra dollar on the heating oil price. As a share of the heating oil price the gap was 13.9% to 27.2%, averaging 22.6%, and it shrinks as heating oil gets more expensive: 26.5% in October 2024, 15.7% on October 19, 2026.
The March 2026 jump shows the pattern clearly. Between the surveys of March 2 and March 9, 2026 Maine’s heating oil price rose from $3.94 to $4.83, an increase of 89 cents in one week, and kerosene rose from $4.96 to $5.80, 84 cents. The gap moved from $1.02 to $0.97. Retail kerosene tracks heating oil closely and adds a roughly constant margin, which is what a distributor passing along a commodity and adding a fixed handling cost looks like. This is a retail survey from one state, and no other state office found for this page publishes a kerosene series, so it may not be typical of every market. It also reports cash prices on the day of the survey, and a customer on a pre-bought contract may have paid something different.
Is the premium a refining cost?
If it cost refiners much more to make kerosene, the wholesale price would show it. The EIA publishes a Gulf Coast spot price for kerosene-type jet fuel, which is the same boiling range as kerosene, and a New York Harbor spot price for No. 2 heating oil. They are different grades in different places, so the comparison is a proxy, but Table 3 shows the proxy is close.
Table 3. Annual average spot prices, kerosene-type jet fuel (Gulf Coast) and No. 2 heating oil (New York Harbor), dollars per gallon
| Year | Jet fuel, Gulf Coast | No. 2 heating oil, NY Harbor | Jet minus heating oil |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $2.027 | $2.064 | -$0.037 |
| 2019 | $1.879 | $1.916 | -$0.037 |
| 2020 | $1.099 | $1.199 | -$0.100 |
| 2021 | $1.858 | $1.914 | -$0.056 |
| 2022 | $3.374 | $3.565 | -$0.191 |
| 2023 | $2.699 | $2.677 | +$0.022 |
| 2024 | $2.338 | $2.292 | +$0.046 |
| 2025 | $2.114 | $2.206 | -$0.092 |
| January 2026 | $2.031 | $2.111 | -$0.080 |
| February 2026 | $2.262 | $2.354 | -$0.092 |
| March 2026 | $3.697 | $3.807 | -$0.110 |
| April 2026 | $3.928 | $3.840 | +$0.088 |
| May 2026 | $3.943 | $3.803 | +$0.140 |
| June 2026 | $3.042 | $3.302 | -$0.260 |
| July 2026 | $3.403 | $3.803 | -$0.400 |
| August 2026 | $3.724 | $4.119 | -$0.395 |
| September 2026 | $4.388 | $4.786 | -$0.398 |
Source: EIA, U.S. Gulf Coast Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel Spot Price FOB (EER_EPJK_PF4_RGC_DPG) and New York Harbor No. 2 Heating Oil Spot Price FOB (EER_EPD2F_PF4_Y35NY_DPG), annual to 2025 and monthly to September 2026, from the EIA petroleum bulk data file updated October 22, 2026, checked October 23, 2026. Differences are this page’s arithmetic.
In 7 of the 8 years from 2018 to 2025 the two averaged within 10 cents of each other, and the widest gap was 19 cents in 2022, when heating oil was the more expensive. The 2026 months break the pattern: jet fuel was above heating oil in April and May, by 9 and 14 cents, and then 26 to 40 cents below it from June to September. That reflects the East Coast distillate tightness the EIA has described in 2026, and it goes in the opposite direction from the retail gap. Where a retail premium of 90 cents a gallon comes from is therefore not the refinery. Candidates are small-lot delivery, separate tank and truck compartments, and for clear (undyed) kerosene the federal excise tax of 24.4 cents a gallon that IRS Publication 510 lists. The Maine survey does not say which, and none of these can be measured from the data on this page.
What the spot comparison cannot tell you
Jet fuel is a stand-in. Kerosene for heating is not made to the jet specification, and a Gulf Coast spot price is not what a Maine distributor pays at a terminal. The comparison supports one narrow statement: in the wholesale market, the light distillate is not much costlier than heating oil, so the large retail gap must come from after the terminal.
What the extra gallon price buys in heat
Heating equipment burns Btu, not gallons. On the EIA’s factors a gallon of kerosene holds 135,000 Btu and a gallon of heating oil 138,500, so kerosene carries 2.5% less heat. At the October 19, 2026 Maine prices, a million Btu cost $43.61 as heating oil and $51.78 as kerosene, a difference of $8.17, or 18.7%. Maine’s own table, which uses its own conversion factors, shows $43.45 and $51.78 for the same week, the same 19 percent gap.
A home that burns 402 gallons of heating oil between November and March, the typical household figure worked through in the household use guide, would need 412 gallons of kerosene to get the same heat. At October 19 Maine prices that is $2,428 as heating oil against $2,883 as kerosene, a difference of $455 a season. Nobody heats a whole house this way unless their equipment requires it, which is the reason blends exist.
Blend arithmetic
Dealers in cold regions are commonly reported to add No. 1 or kerosene to No. 2 for outdoor tanks, although no official source for a blend ratio was found for this page. What share is enough depends on the temperature, the tank and the base fuel, and this page does not give one. What it can give is the cost of each share, using the October 19, 2026 Maine prices and treating the two fuels as ideal volume blends, which a real blend only approximates.
Table 4. Cost and heat of kerosene-heating oil blends at Maine prices of October 19, 2026
| Kerosene share | Price per gallon | Btu per gallon | Dollars per million Btu | Extra cost per 100 gallons vs pure heating oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% (heating oil) | $6.04 | 138,500 | $43.61 | $0 |
| 10% | $6.14 | 138,150 | $44.41 | $9 |
| 20% | $6.23 | 137,800 | $45.21 | $19 |
| 30% | $6.33 | 137,450 | $46.02 | $29 |
| 50% | $6.52 | 136,750 | $47.64 | $48 |
| 100% (kerosene) | $6.99 | 135,000 | $51.78 | $95 |
Arithmetic on Maine DOER prices of $6.04 (heating oil) and $6.99 (kerosene) per gallon, October 19, 2026, and EIA heat contents of 138,500 and 135,000 Btu per gallon, assuming volumes add. The blend shares are illustrations, not recommended ratios.
The table is nearly linear, because the two prices and heat contents are close. A 20 percent kerosene share adds $0.19 a gallon, or 3.1%, and costs about 0.5% of heat. A 275-gallon tank filled with that blend costs about $52 more than a fill of pure heating oil at these prices. If a cold snap would otherwise stop the flow of fuel to the burner, that is an insurance price. If the tank is indoors, it is a premium for nothing.
A whole heating season at both prices
A weekly gap is easy to wave away, so Table 5 turns it into a season. The rows average the usable Maine surveys from October through March in each of the last two heating seasons, then apply the averages to a 402-gallon winter, the November to March household figure worked through in the household use guide. The kerosene column buys the same heat, so it uses 412 gallons.
Table 5. A 402-gallon heating oil winter, priced as heating oil and as heat-equivalent kerosene, Maine survey averages
| Season | Weekly surveys | Heating oil average | Kerosene average | Cost as heating oil | Cost as kerosene, same heat | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heating season 2024-25 (October 7, 2024 to March 31, 2025) | 26 | $3.540 | $4.370 | $1,423 | $1,802 | $379 |
| Heating season 2025-26 (October 6, 2025 to March 30, 2026) | 24 | $3.808 | $4.737 | $1,531 | $1,954 | $423 |
Source: Maine Department of Energy Resources weekly surveys, usable surveys from October through March, checked October 23, 2026. Surveys whose own dollars-per-million-Btu line did not reconcile with the gallon price were excluded. Costs apply the averages to 402 gallons of heating oil, or to the number of kerosene gallons with the same Btu on EIA’s factors; they omit delivery minimums, fees and discounts.
Heating oil averaged $3.54 in the first season and $3.81 in the second, a rise of 8%, and the second season includes the March 2026 jump, to a weekly high of $5.40. The kerosene premium over those averages rose from $0.83 to $0.93. For a household that is choosing a fuel for its tank, the number to take from the table is the last column of the second row: roughly $423 more for the winter if every gallon were kerosene.
Where kerosene sits among Maine’s heating options
The same Maine publication converts every residential heating fuel to dollars per million Btu. Table 6 reproduces the October 19, 2026 comparison as published. The state’s note is that electricity figures reflect heat pump efficiency (2.93 times resistance heating, per Efficiency Maine Trust) and that other fuels still need an adjustment for the efficiency of the equipment burning them.
Table 6. Maine comparison of heating fuel prices, October 19, 2026
| Heating source | Unit and price | Dollars per million Btu |
|---|---|---|
| Cordwood | Cord, $355 | $16.14 |
| Natural gas | Therm, $1.468 to $2.270 | $14.68 to $22.70 |
| Wood pellets | Ton, $357.00 | $21.64 |
| Electricity, air-source heat pump | kWh, $0.098 to $0.107 | $28.72 to $31.36 |
| Propane | Gallon, $3.52 | $38.47 |
| Heating oil | Gallon, $6.04 | $43.45 |
| Kerosene | Gallon, $6.99 | $51.78 |
| Electricity, baseboard | kWh, $0.286 to $0.313 | $83.82 to $91.74 |
Source: Maine Department of Energy Resources, 2025-2026 Heating Season Weekly Fuel Prices, October 19, 2026, checked October 23, 2026. Cordwood and pellet prices come from an informal dealer survey; natural gas is shown as the lowest to highest utility price and includes minimum monthly fees.
Kerosene is the most expensive liquid fuel in the table and the most expensive of any fuel except resistance electric heat. It is 19% above heating oil and 35% above propane per million Btu. The liquid fuels are priced on the equipment-agnostic basis of delivered heat, and the equipment still decides what can be used. That is why the household question is rarely heating oil versus kerosene as a pure price choice. It is more often a question of what the burner and the tank allow. The cross-fuel arithmetic, with efficiencies, is in the heating fuel cost guide.
Portable heaters are a different test
Everything above concerns a fuel in a tank feeding a burner. A portable kerosene heater is regulated differently, and the grade matters more. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s guidance says to use only water-clear 1-K grade kerosene and never gasoline, and that even small amounts of gasoline or other volatile fuels mixed with kerosene can substantially increase the risk of fire or explosion. It adds that 1-K should be bought from a dealer who can certify the grade, because different grades of kerosene can look the same, and that grades other than 1-K can release more pollutants into a home.
That guidance changes how the Table 1 grades should be read. 1-K is not a synonym for clear kerosene. A product sold as kerosene, range oil or No. 1 heating oil may be perfectly good in a tank-fed burner and still not be the certified grade a nonflue-connected heater is written for. The CPSC also advises fuelling the heater outdoors after it has cooled, storing kerosene in a container meant for it (usually blue), and installing smoke alarms; the agency’s sheet is the place to read the full list, and the heater’s manual governs.
Why the fuel sits at the cold end of the market
Kerosene is a niche product in the United States. EIA’s product supplied of kerosene averaged 11 thousand barrels per day in 2025, and it was 20 thousand in 2010. Of the 11.2 thousand barrels a day average in 2025, the Gulf Coast (PADD 3) accounted for 5.3, the East Coast (PADD 1) for 3.7 and the Midwest (PADD 2) for 2.8. The use is also intensely seasonal.
Table 7. U.S. product supplied of kerosene by calendar month, mean of 2021 to 2025, thousand barrels per day
| Month | Thousand barrels per day | Ratio to August |
|---|---|---|
| January | 21.6 | 13.5x |
| February | 18.0 | 11.3x |
| March | 6.2 | 3.9x |
| April | 7.4 | 4.6x |
| May | 8.0 | 5.0x |
| June | 4.4 | 2.8x |
| July | 4.4 | 2.8x |
| August | 1.6 | 1.0x |
| September | 3.2 | 2.0x |
| October | 3.4 | 2.1x |
| November | 7.2 | 4.5x |
| December | 12.0 | 7.5x |
Source: EIA, Petroleum Supply Monthly, U.S. Product Supplied of Kerosene (MKEUPUS2), monthly, through July 2026, checked October 23, 2026. Means and ratios are this page’s arithmetic over 60 monthly values. Product supplied is a derived measure and is noisy at these small volumes.
January’s five-year mean is 14 times August’s. In a market this small and this seasonal, a distributor’s kerosene is a winter specialty handled in small lots, and the 90-cent premium is plausibly the price of that handling, not of the molecules. That is an inference from the shape of the data, not a measurement, and the ASTM tables that would give pour and cloud points for each grade are behind a paywall, so this page gives no gel temperature for any fuel.
Kerosene and heating oil questions
Is kerosene the same thing as No. 1 heating oil?
They overlap but are not the same specification. EIA describes kerosene grades 1-K and 2-K under ASTM D3699 as having properties similar to No. 1 fuel oil, which is a grade under ASTM D396. In practice a supplier may sell the same light distillate under either name, so the delivery ticket should state the grade.
Can I run kerosene in a furnace built for No. 2 heating oil?
The standards place No. 1 grades in the same family of burner fuels. ASTM D396 says its No. 1 and No. 2 grades are middle distillates for domestic and small industrial burners, and the No. 1 grades are particularly adapted to vaporizing burners or storage that needs a low pour point. Whether a particular burner is approved for it is a question for the burner manufacturer and the installer, not for this page.
How much more does kerosene cost than heating oil?
In Maine’s weekly survey the average gap between October 7, 2024 and October 19, 2026 was 88 cents a gallon, ranging from 77 cents to $1.02. On October 19, 2026 kerosene averaged $6.99 and heating oil $6.04, a gap of 95 cents, or 16 percent of the heating oil price.
Does kerosene have less heat than heating oil?
Slightly. EIA’s heat content for kerosene is 5.670 million Btu per barrel, or 135,000 Btu per gallon, against 138,500 for heating oil, so kerosene carries about 2.5 percent less heat per gallon. The difference in price per million Btu is much larger than that: $51.78 for kerosene against $43.61 for heating oil on October 19, 2026 at those factors.
Why does kerosene cost more if jet fuel costs about the same as heating oil?
At the wholesale level it does not cost much more. The EIA’s Gulf Coast kerosene-type jet fuel spot price averaged within 10 cents of the New York Harbor No. 2 heating oil spot price in seven of the eight years from 2018 to 2025. The retail gap is therefore not a refining cost. Small volumes, separate storage and delivery, and for clear kerosene possibly fuel taxes are likely contributors, but this page cannot measure them.
How much kerosene does the United States use?
Very little. EIA’s product supplied of kerosene averaged 11 thousand barrels per day in 2025, and the five-year average for January is 21.6 thousand barrels per day against 1.6 in August. That makes it a small, winter-weighted product.
Is kerosene dyed or taxed like heating oil?
Federal rules treat undyed kerosene like undyed diesel: IRS Publication 510 lists a tax of 24.4 cents a gallon, with dyed kerosene for exempt uses paying only the 0.1 cent leaking-underground-storage-tank fee. Whether a given retail kerosene gallon was sold dyed or clear changes the price, so ask the seller. The heating oil versus diesel guide walks through the dye rules.
Data and sources: Maine Department of Energy Resources, Heating Fuel Prices (weekly survey PDFs, October 7, 2024 to October 19, 2026), checked October 23, 2026. EIA, Monthly Energy Review (September 2026), Appendix A, Table A1 (kerosene 5.670, distillate 5.770 million Btu per barrel), checked October 23, 2026. EIA, Glossary: kerosene and distillate fuel oil (No. 1 and No. 2 fuel oil distillation points), checked October 23, 2026. EIA, British thermal units (heating oil 138,500 Btu per gallon), checked October 23, 2026. CPSC, CPSC Stresses Kerosene Heater Safety (1-K grade, certification, containers), checked October 23, 2026. ASTM International, abstracts of D3699 Standard Specification for Kerosine and D396-25 Standard Specification for Fuel Oils, checked October 23, 2026 (scope statements only; the standards’ tables are not public). EIA petroleum series from the bulk data file updated October 22, 2026: spot prices and product supplied (MKEUPUS2), checked October 23, 2026. IRS, Publication 510 (24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel and kerosene; 0.1 cent LUST fee), as cited in the heating oil versus diesel guide. Maine’s dollars-per-million-Btu figures use the state’s own factors; this page’s per-Btu figures use EIA’s and differ by a few cents. Gaps, shares, blends, per-Btu prices and the straight-line fit are this page’s arithmetic.