The news has been buzzing about heating fuel demand and price spikes due to sustained frigid temperatures across much of the US. Roughly 80% of homes primarily heated with oil are located in the northeast, where the market has flipped into backwardation, meaning spot prices are higher than those for future delivery contracts. “This steep backwardation indicates a strong incentive to sell supplies out of inventory into the prompt market,” the EIA said in its weekly petroleum report.

Apparently criminal elements are also watching the market because a home heating oil delivery truck containing about 3,000 gallons of fuel worth about $13,000 was stolen from a Philadelphia street on Tuesday.

“This is not no terroristic thing. The average price right now wholesale is about $4 a gallon. So it was about almost 3,000 gallons on the truck so you do the math. It’s a hot commodity,” said Chris Thomas, the delivery company’s owner as reported by the local NBC affiliate.