January 10, 1982

DELIVERIES of home heating oil in Nassau and Suffolk Counties have declined as much as 30 percent over the last two heating seasons, according to retail dealers and spokesmen for the industry. One result is that supplies of home heating oil are high as the 1982 heating season gets under way. Richard Rocchio, the executive vice president of the Long Island Oil Heat Institute, said the decline in deliveries reflected determined efforts of customers to conserve oil by upgrading their equipment, insulating and heating with auxiliary systems, such as kerosene heaters and wood and coal stoves. Mr. Rocchio said home conservation accelerated sharply after the retail price of home heating oil topped $1 two seasons ago. The average retail cost per gallon this season hovers near $1.30 in the two counties. Mr. Rocchio and a number of retail dealers said that supplies this winter were more than ample to meet demand, and most dealers do not expect prices to rise during the first part of 1982.

THE steep recession, which battered the American economy in the final months of the old year, poses the greatest problem for business in the new. And the recession also poses the greatest domestic challenge to President Reagan who, having led the nation into this slump, to his Administration's proclaimed surprise, now hopes to lead it out without reviving inflation or sending interest rates skyward again. For many businesses, the issue is not how to cope but how to survive. Fina ncial disarray and weak and declining demand have imposed a liq uidity squeeze on housing, the thrift industry, the autoindustry, rub ber, chemicals and many other old-line industries. Many companies caught in the liquidity squeeze are trying to escape it by cutting capital spending for new plant and equipment to conserve cash, cutting inventories to avoid heavy interest charges and laying off employees, both blue-collar and white-collar.

THE golden girl of Greenwich has married, and, but for the sighs of would-be suitors, local joy was just short of absolute. Residents in the hometown of the Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill only wish she had chosen Greenwich rather than Beverly Hills, Calif., as the setting for her wedding two days ago to Dean Paul Martin, a union some here likened to the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. ''Absolutely,'' Etalo Ceci, owner of the Exclusive Bridal Shoppe in Greenwich and a one-time designer for Miss Hamill, said before the wedding. ''She's due it as an Olympic champion. We don't come by those everyday. But I'm disappointed that after naming the skating rink for her, the wedding won't be here.''

O F the four quarterbacks in today's conference championship games that will determine the Super Bowl XVI matchup, three have been developed by Bill Walsh, the coach of the San Francisco 49ers -his own Joe Montana as well as Ken Anderson of the Cincinnati Bengals and Dan Fouts of the San Diego Chargers. It's not a coincidence. Nobody in the recent history of the National Football League has nurtured quarterbacks as successfully as Bill Walsh has. ''You can't make something out of nothing, I've had failures,'' the 49er coach was saying now. ''But if a quarterback has basic intelligence and basic ability, you can develop him.''

North Carolina's Tar Heels did not beat Ralph Sampson this afternoon. They outnumbered him. Sampson, Virginia's 7-foot-4-inch junior center, scored from inside and out, above the basket and below, with his injured right hand and his left. He played one of the greatest games of his career, scoring 30 points and getting 19 rebounds. That was not enough. In the final minute, after the Tar Heels had rallied from 9 points behind to take the lead, and the Cavaliers badly needed to get the ball inside, Carolina would not let them. The Tar Heels won, 65-60, and for the second time in 15 days they had protected their top ranking in both wire-service polls by defeating an unbeaten second-ranked team.