Petrol pumps run dry

Petrol pumps run dry as motorists ignore 'don't panic' plea

The Daily Mail 14th June 2008

Ray Massey


Petrol pumps began running dry within hours of the start of the tanker drivers' strike - and up to 1,000 filling stations could be without fuel by next week, experts have warned.

Petrol retailers urged customers to stay calm today as drivers descended on forecourts despite Government and industry pleas not to panic-buy fuel.

Supermarkets said they were working to maintain supplies in the face of increased customer demand since talks to avoid a strike by Shell tanker drivers broke down on Thursday.

Lorry drivers also began a 'go-slow' on the M6 to protest over rising fuel costs.

'Sold out' signs appeared at garages as motorists ignored the Government's plea not to panic buy.

There were reports of drivers topping up their tanks with small amounts of fuel or filling spare cans.

The AA warned car owners 'not to waste a single drop' as union officials said the strike would further strangle supplies over the weekend.

People attempting to fill up in more remote areas suffered the worst shortages yesterday but even in London there were garages that sold out.

Experts said up to 1,000 petrol stations could be left without fuel by next week, pushing the price of diesel past the £6-a-gallon mark.

Analysts Petrolbusters.com also warned of 'profiteering' by some garages as supplies become scarce as a result of the four-day strike.

Last night it appeared the misery is set to be repeated as the union Unite gave Shell bosses notice that they plan disruption again from next Friday.

Hoyer UK and Suckling, the two firms contracted by Shell to deliver fuel, said Unite had notified them last night 'that they plan to strike across the UK again next weekend'.

By law the union must give seven days' notice of action.

Pickets at terminals around the country were manned by hundreds of trade union members, with police on guard in case of violence.

Tanker drivers from other companies refused to cross picket lines, exacerbating shortages.

At Shell's refinery in Stanlow, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, placard-wielding pickets cheered when drivers not involved in the dispute turned their tankers around.

Their placards declared: 'Shell profits gush' and 'Drivers' pay trickles'.

Striking drivers at Stanlow in Cheshire were last night joined by 15 BP drivers who refused to start work.

Drivers at the Kingsbury oil depot in Warwickshire yesterday clapped as a BP tanker pulled up to say he would not be crossing the picket line.

Members of the public driving past the depot also honked their horns in support for the picketing drivers.

Drivers in the West Country and Scotland suffered most, along with the North West of England.

Sil Damhayan, who works at a Shell garage in Hove, East Sussex, said fuel supplies were just hours away from running out after three days of panic buying.

'People are concerned all the supplies will run out,' he said.

A worker at the Shell garage in Brighton said: 'We'll probably run out by the end of today.'

At the Shell station in Bayswater, West London, a rush of customers in the morning drained the pumps.

Gordon Brown condemned the strike, saying: 'We have been working very closely with the industry to put in place a contingency plan to reduce, as far as possible, and minimise disruption to the public.'

Business Secretary John Hutton said: 'Our advice to motorists is just to buy the fuel they need.'

AA president Edmund King said: 'Drivers should cut out short journeys, stick to speed limits and take off roof-racks to save fuel.

'But above all do not queue up at fuel stations. Don't waste a drop.'

There were fears a strike by just 650 workers, who are seeking an improved pay offer, could escalate into a wider fuel protest.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, said he was 'bitterly disappointed' by the strike which he blamed on Shell's ' corporate greed'.

He was not surprised tanker drivers from other companies had refused to cross picket lines.

'We always expected that in a very close-knit community tanker drivers would support each other,' he said.

Hoyer and Suckling Transport said unions had rejected an increase for this year of 7.3 per cent backdated to January, which would take average earnings to more than £39,000, with a further six per cent increase from next January, which would take it to around £41,500.

They said the union had refused to suspend the strike and put the offers to a ballot.

Shell said that seven out of its 870 filling stations had completely run out of petrol by 6pm last night - with more bound to follow.

When asked if the company could stop other stations running dry, Shell UK chairman James Smith said: 'I don't know that we can.

'We will have to see how it develops over the weekend. He added that there had been 'higher sales', but he praised motorists for their 'responsible behavior.'He said the dispute was 'regrettable' and he urged the two parties to settle.

In further misery for drivers, a six-hour, go-slow protest by truckers on motorways in north west England today is due to cause more chaos on the roads

Protester Bruce Horn, from Farmers For Action, said: 'We are asking the Government to abolish the 2p rise in fuel they have only so far postponed.'

The Shell chairman Mr Smith sought to beat the strike by cycling from his luxury home in Walton on Thames to the town's station where he caught the 8.06am fast train to London Waterloo - a stone's throw from his company's Thameside headquarters.

The AA said the average price of petrol yesterday was 117.56p a litre.

More expensive diesel was averaging 130.99p - a fraction under the £6 gallon which is reached when it increases by another 1p a litre.

Petrol retailers predict rises of up to 5p in the pipeline.

The extra cost of filling up the average Mondeo-sized family car with petrol compared to a year ago is now £10.27.

The extra cost of filling up the average diesel is £16.79 more.

It is costing a two car family £44.02 more each month compared to last year.

Brendan McLoughlin, founder of PetrolPrices.com which says 55 areas in the UK could be without fuel as the forecourts run dry, said: ‘Motorists need to stay vigilant and make sure they don’t fall victim to profiteering.

'I’d like to think that forecourt owners won’t take advantage of the situation, but there are those prepared to hike prices and make a profit out of drivers’ misery.'

•MORE than 10,000 car workers face an uncertain future as production ground to a halt because parts are trapped in Spain.

Rioting hauliers angry at rising fuel costs have blockaded ports and airports, stopping exports.

More than 6,100 workers making Minis at BMW plants in Oxford and Swindon were told not to come in on Thursday.

Production at the Toyota plant at Burnaston, Derbyshire - employing more than 4,000 - also halted on Thursday night.

Although it resumed temporarily, it was due to halt again last night.

The 5,000-plus staff at Oxford have been told to phone an emergency number on Monday.

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An ominous warning that the rapid rise in oil prices has only just begun

By Danny Fortson, Business Correspondent
The Independent Wednesday, 11 June 2008

The chief executive of the world's largest energy company has issued the most dire warning yet about the soaring the price of oil, predicting that it will hit $250 per barrel "in the foreseeable future".

The forecast from Alexey Miller, the head of the Kremlin-owned gas giant Gazprom, would herald the arrival of £2-per-litre petrol and send shockwaves through the economy. His comments were the most stark to be expressed by an industry executive and come just days after the oil price registered its largest-ever single-day spike, hitting $139.12 per barrel last week amid fears that the world's faltering supply will be unable to keep up with demand.

Mr Miller's prediction is well beyond even the most heady market forecasts, the most extreme of which fall between $150 and $200 per barrel, and was explained only by vague references to demand from the developing world. It nonetheless stoked an already febrile atmosphere of growing public anger across Europe over a soaring fuel cost that is wreaking havoc at nearly every level of the economy.

The British Government was urging motorists yesterday not to panic-buy petrol in anticipation of a strike on Friday by lorry drivers who deliver petrol to forecourts for Royal Dutch Shell, assuring motorists that contingency plans would ensure sufficient supplies.

In Spain, the regional government of Catalonia enacted an emergency action plan to bring in fresh food and fuel supplies after nearly half of its forecourts ran dry and supermarkets shelves were left bare. The situation was the result of the second day of an "indefinite" nationwide strike staged by lorry drivers in Spain seeking their government's help to contain the effects of expensive petrol. Scattered protests by drivers and fisherman in France and Portugal also continued yesterday.

In a speech to the European Business Congress in Deauville, France, Mr Miller offered little prospect of relief. He warned that the world was experiencing a fundamental shift in energy prices that will end at a "radically new level. We expect that the oil price will approach $250 per barrel in the foreseeable future".

Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec Securities, warned that oil at that level would exert an extraordinary drag on the economy at a time when it is already decelerating at a rapid rate. "The word is ouch," he said. "Forecasts are forecasts though, and I think it should be treated with some level of scepticism."

The most visible result of $250 oil would be at the petrol pump, which is already at a record 116.9 pence per litre for unleaded. Because more than half of that price, about 68p, is due to duty and taxes, the general rule of thumb is that each $2 increase for oil means a 1p increase of petrol at the pump. Oil at $250 a barrel would mean an increase of almost 60p in petrol prices, even before VAT.

The price of everything from food to energy would see significant price rises. Household electricity and gas bills are particularly vulnerable. Power companies have begun warning of a second round of major tariff increases for household bills this year that they say they will need to push through just to break even.

Mr Miller placed some of the blame on financial speculators for oil's price rise – it has more than doubled in the past year – but said that the primary reason is simple supply and demand, driven by the rapidly expanding countries of the developing world, principally China and India.

It is a view shared by the International Energy Agency. In its monthly oil report, the developed world's energy watchdog said yesterday that the "abnormally high prices [for oil] are largely explained by fundamentals". But whether the price of oil will reach $250 is uncertain at best. Most expect it to reach a breaking point before that figure. The IEA said that the high price would eventually "choke off" demand and a balance between supply and demand would return.

What is certain is that for Europe, Mr Miller's role will become increasingly important as head of the continent's single biggest gas supplier. He also warned against "protectionist tendencies" in Europe, where worries have grown that the company is being used as a blunt negotiating tool of the Kremlin. "The relationship between Gazprom and Europeans is one of mutual dependence. We rely as much on European consumers as they depend on us," he said.

"In all frankness, I am concerned about certain protectionist tendencies resurfacing in the EU ... How wise it is that the European Commission invents an 'anti-Gazprom clause' to keep investments which are so needed for more efficient satisfaction of raising demand."

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Diesel Rip Off

I was on my way home from work and I passed an ESSO station, I could not believe my eyes. The price of diesel has risen to £1.30, after my last post this morning regarding the price of diesel should be reduced as the price of oil had receded slightly. These oil companies and Gordon Brown need sorting out, every time I read an article about fuel prices rising it really makes me angry.

They will not be so clever when more and more people start to get wise about being able to run a car on water, I would imagine that Gordon Brown will add tax to water too.

The Great Diesel Rip Off, another damn good reason to run your car on water!

Drivers pay price of great diesel 'rip-off' as oil firms fail to pass back cost savings to customer
By Ray Massey
The Daily Mail Friday 6th June 2008

Millions of drivers are being 'ripped- off ' by oil firms which have not passed on a 10 per cent drop in diesel prices.
The AA said the savings should be worth around 7p a litre at the pumps.
And it warned that it will call on the Government to investigate if diesel prices continue to climb.
Energy experts Platts said the wholesale price has significantly fallen in the past fortnight.
On May 23 - the day after oil hit a record $135 a barrel - diesel was selling at $1,342 a ton, but yesterday the price had dropped to $1,203.
On May 23 the average cost of a litre of diesel was 126.7p per litre. Yesterday it stood at 129.9p.
Andrew Bonnington, a spokesman for Platts, said: 'The wholesale cost of diesel cargo delivered into the UK has fallen by 10 per cent in two weeks.'
The union Unite accused Shell of ' profiteering' after the company announced record profits of nearly £14billion in January. Shell denied the claim.
The AA said disquiet over rising prices would prompt anger from millions of
diesel car drivers if the drop in price was not passed on.
A spokesman said: 'We fear motorists are being ripped off.'
More than ten million cars on our roads are diesel - about a third of the total.
Their numbers, however, are rising rapidly as about 45 per cent of new cars sold are diesel, compared with 13.8 per cent in 1999. That figure is set to exceed 50 per cent next year.
The AA said there was some evidence the diesel pump price had started to fall slightly in Scotland but this was not happening in England.
Edmund King, the motoring group's president, said: 'Unless fuel suppliers can come up with a valid reason as to why diesel prices are still going up when European wholesale prices have dropped, the AA will call for an immediate investigation.'
Although petrol prices have fallen on international markets, the cost of filling a Ford Mondeo-sized family car's 50-litre tank with diesel has risen by £16.28.
To add to drivers' woes, tanker drivers have announced plans to strike for four days after talks over pay broke down.
Some 650 drivers with Hoyer UK, who supply fuel to up to 1,000 Shell garages, factories and small airports, will walk out from next Friday unless the issue is resolved.
The drivers voted last week in favour of industrial action and yesterday gave seven days' notice of a dispute.
This comes just weeks after the Grangemouth refinery dispute, which caused forecourts to close in the North of England and in Scotland.
Fuel supplies face further disruption if the tanker drivers' action goes ahead.
Hoyer said that it had made an improved pay offer worth 6.8 per cent to raise drivers' average earnings from £36,000 to around £39,000.
Business Secretary John Hutton said he did not believe a strike was justified while Alan Duncan, the Conservative spokesman for business, said the action would create further uncertainty.
The two sides have agreed to go to the conciliation service Acas in the next few days in an attempt to stop the strike.

UK diesel prices are the cheapest before tax

Yahoo News 29^th May 2008

UK diesel prices are the cheapest in western Europe before tax is added, Government figures reveal.

But once taxes are imposed on the fuel, the average price at the pump is higher than any other European Union country.

The figures show taxes made up 58% of the total price in April - the highest in Europe - raising the cost from an average 48.8p a litre to 116.6p.

Pre-tax unleaded prices for April were the third-lowest of all EU states, at 41.2p a litre, but after tax and duty the 107.6p cost meant 18 other EU countries had cheaper petrol.

The 62% tax share on unleaded was the third-highest out of all EU member states, the quarterly Energy Trends and Prices statistics produced by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform revealed.

The high cost of fuel led to angry hauliers driving a convoy of lorries to London in protest this week, and Chancellor Alistair Darling is under pressure to scrap a 2p rise in duty planned for October.

Shadow treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond seized on the figures to blame Prime Minister Gordon Brown for high pump prices. He also attacked controversial plans to restructure vehicle excise duty, which could see drivers of less efficient older cars facing a big tax hike next year.

Mr Hammond said: "Gordon Brown's claim that world oil prices are to blame for the soaring cost of motoring has been exposed as a sham.

"The blame lies squarely with him, and because his Government has run out of money, instead of helping hard-pressed motorists he is hitting them yet again with a massive hike in road tax. When will he get the message that people have had enough?"

A Treasury spokesman insisted that the UK was generally a low-tax economy compared with other EU states.