Theft of heating oil from storage tanks in rural parts of Brentwood and Epping Forest have been rocketing despite prices reaching a 12 month low.
About £6,000 worth of heating oil has been stolen from storage tanks in 12 incidents in rural areas since the beginning of March. Amounts of oil taken have ranged from 200 litres to 1,500 litres which was valued at £1,000.
All 12 incidents have happened mainly at properties in quiet country lanes and at night. Most have been near hamlets or villages in the Epping Forest area, but others have been in remote areas between Brentwood and Chelmsford.
Officers are now urging all oil fuel users to ensure that their security measures are adequate. They are also urging all residents in rural areas to be on the look-out for any vehicles, particularly vans or any vehicle carrying tubing, plastic or metal tanks or any form of liquid containers.
Tony Ellis, the crime reduction officer for the Epping Forest police district said: "This is a national problem but it tends to go in spates around Essex. We want to make people aware that thieves are breaking open tanks and siphoning off large amount of fuel oil which will probably be sold on the black market.
"We also urge anyone to contact your local crime reduction officers for advice on how fix devices that activate alarms if a tank is being tampered with."
Heating oil prices have continued to fall with prices down from 58p per litre to just below 57p as of last week, according to the independent heating oil website Boiler Juice.
The last time that prices dropped to this level was in July 2012, when a hot spell of weather, combined with the continuing poor economic climate, caused low heating oil consumption rates.Oil prices are affected by a wide variety of factors, but the relative stability among oil producing countries in recent years, coupled with the poor global economic climate, has meant that prices have stayed away from highs seen in early 2011.
However officers are also advising people to keep their tank in a well-overlooked position, well locked and regularly checked
Anyone with information about the thefts or the thieves is asked to contact police at Epping on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
