October 07, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Burglary and Theft
Request Number: FOI/15871
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics
Subject: Request for custom tabulation — domestic home-heating oil thefts from residential properties (NI), 2020–2025 YTD, by policing district
Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken to disclose the following.
Request
Please provide, for 2020–2024 (full years) and 2025 year-to-date (to the most recent complete month available), the number of recorded offences where:
- The stolen property/commodity is domestic home-heating oil (kerosene); and
- The location type is a residential property (dwelling or dwelling curtilage, e.g. garden/oil tank)
Breakdowns requested:
Primary: Year × Policing District totals.
If district is not feasible: the nearest consistent geography (e.g. Local Policing Command/legacy districts).
If easily available: monthly counts to show seasonality.
Definitions and inclusions:
Include theft/unauthorised taking where the item stolen is home-heating oil from a domestic tank.
Exclude non-residential settings (farms, commercial premises, schools, churches, public buildings).
If there is no explicit ‘heating oil" code, please use the closest property-type proxy (e.g. ‘oil"/‘heating fuel") and note any limitations.
Answer
The following tables are based on all recorded burglary, robbery and theft offences where location type was dwelling - House or Dwelling - Flat, and the property classified as stolen was described as Oil or Other Fuel, during the period January 2020 - August 2025. There is no specific property type of home heating oil therefore the closest categories of Oil and Other fuel have been used. These categories may include forms of fuel other than home heating oil.
Please Note: This is management information based on data extracted from a live system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.
By District
| District | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Jan-Aug 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast Disctrict | 5 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Lisburn & Castlereagh | 5 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Ards & North Down | 9 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
| Newry, Mourne & Down | 13 | 14 | 25 | 12 | 7 | 2 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon | 18 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 1 | 5 |
| Mid Ulster | 11 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Fermanagh & Omagh | 12 | 10 | 18 | 11 | 5 | 5 |
| Derry City & Strabane | 12 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 6 | 2 |
| Causeway Coast & Glens | 17 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 5 |
| Mid & East Antrim | 3 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| Antrim & Newtownabbey | 9 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 2 |
| Total Recorded Offences | 114 | 86 | 139 | 107 | 50 | 33 |
By month – figures for 2025 are up to the month of September and total figures for 2025 may be subject to change.
| Month | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14 | 15 | 14 | 18 | 8 | 13 |
| February | 22 | 14 | 12 | 23 | 7 | 4 |
| March | 21 | 16 | 33 | 17 | 9 | 7 |
| April | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 3 |
| May | 9 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| June | 8 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| July | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| August | 3 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| September | 4 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 2 | |
| October | 2 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 7 | |
| November | 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 3 | |
| December | 12 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 3 | |
| Total Recorded Offences | 114 | 86 | 139 | 107 | 50 | 33 |