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PRESS RELEASES
31 January 2006
Gas Market Opens Up to Competition
Responding to the news that the gas market will open up to competition the Northern Ireland Oil Federation forecasts that the furore in recent months over gas price hikes will result in a further increase in oil market share within Northern Ireland. According to a home heat survey carried out by Millward Brown Ulster (November 2005), the market share for oil home heating stands at 75% of all homes. David Blevings commented, “The oil industry welcomes competition; we are one of the most competitive markets on the island and consumers here continue to buy oil at or below the UK average price which is in stark comparison to our competitors. There is little doubt that people are concerned about future gas price hikes in Northern Ireland. While we acknowledge that there have been unprecedented rises across all fuels, we strongly believe that consumers in the local market prefer the transparency of oil prices which move up and down daily compared to the double digit price hikes in the natural gas sector.”