BOSTON (CBS) – The weather’s getting colder, meaning you’re going to need to heat your house.

Many Bay State residents use heating oil and it won’t be cheap, according to energy analyst John Kilduff, who said prices will likely remain in the $4 per gallon range.

“We do have crude oil prices maintaining a level near $100. That’s what the primary input for heating oil, and those prices have remained stubbornly high all year long since last winter. We haven’t got much of a break, and gasoline prices, as we all know, are about 30 percent higher,” said Kilduff.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Carl Stevens reports.

Kilduff said that the reason heating oil prices this winter will be high and stay high is because the whole world needs it.

“Heating oil is part of a family of fuels that goes along with diesel fuel and jet fuel. They’re all basically the same thing, and unfortunately most of the rest of the world’s motor fuel is diesel fuel, not gasoline, so we compete really for that part of the barrel with the rest of the world,” said Kilduff.

Kilduff said there is a chance that heating oil prices could drop by 50 cents or so, but that would be because of a decline in demand.

As for alternatives, natural gas prices have gotten very cheap compared to hearing oil prices. Kilduff said those prices have “absolutely collapsed” over the past few years.