LYNN – The price of home heating oil is soaring above $5 a gallon in some parts of Massachusetts, prompting consumers to seek seasonal delivery contracts in an effort to control costs.A state survey conducted July 8 by the Department of Energy Resources found the average gallon selling for a record-breaking $4.71, with highs and lows of $5.18 and $4.41 recorded, respectively.Surveys done during the same period from 2001 to 2007 showed the following average gallon price: 2007 at $2.54; 2006 at $2.58; 2005 at $1.98; 2004 at $1.54; 2003 at $1.31; 2002 at $1.16; and 2001 at $1.31.With prices at alarming rates, four New England governors met earlier this week to ask the federal government to increase the region’s home heating assistance to $1 billion, from $252 million last winter. Gov. Deval Patrick joined the governors of New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island to strategize after the price of home heating oil skyrocketed 12 cents to $4.71 a gallon. Patrick said government cannot solve the problem alone and urged homeowners to get an energy audit as a first step toward making their homes more energy efficient.Massachusetts received about $115 million in federal home heating assistance last year, then added $15 million of its own revenues to assist 140,000 low-income households, according to Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.Nearly 1 million homes, or 40 percent of all households, are heated by oil in Massachusetts, a far larger percentage than found in most states. But the threat of rising oil prices certainly isn’t new.The state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation in 2004 warned consumers about the volatile home heating oil market and urged them to purchase supplies on a seasonal basis, if possible, which would lock in the per-gallon price before the onslaught of winter.In 2004, 30 percent of Massachusetts households heating by oil purchased seasonal contracts.At John’s Oil in Lynn, trucks were making deliveries Thursday, but the company does not offer season rates. The selling price: $4.49 a gallon, delivered.Angelo’s Oil Co. in Saugus was offering a price of $4.35 per gallon, delivered, with a 100-gallon minimum. Like many of its competitors, the company does not offer customers the option of locking in a seasonal price because the oil is purchased daily and must adjust for industry fluctuations.The situation was no different at Holden Oil Co. in Peabody, where home heating oil was selling for $4.69 a gallon with a 100-gallon minimum.At Booma Oil Co. in Lynn, the delivered price Thursday was $4.63. The company in early June offered its regular customers an opportunity to contract at a seasonal rate, part of its cap program. The offer, which came with a $4.75 per gallon cap, quickly sold out and is no longer available. In other words, should the oil exceed $4.75, those with the locked-in rate will not pay the higher price. Meanwhile, those customers continue to pay the going rate as it moves upward.According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 82 percent of all heating oil sales are made in the Northeast. The cost of heating oil is predicated on several factors, but the price of crude oil is the most significant.For example, the DOE indicates the price of a gallon of heating oil can be divided into three costs – marketing and distribution making up for approximately 46 percent, refineries 12 percent, and crude oil barrel prices 42 percent. However, the latter category may be higher today due to the relentless escalation of global crude oil prices.On the federal level, U.S. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe of Maine co-sponsored a bill that would release supplies from the government’s Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve should the gallon price reach $4. That, obviously, has already occurred and then some, but no results have stemmed from the proposed legislation.Meanwhile, energy analysts forecast that the Northeast – New England and the