BP & Esso having fuel supply issues

[JagLover]

Donbot said:

This thread has quietened down a bit. I guess everyone can get fuel now?

Round 'ere the panic lasted about 3 days. 5 days if you count a short queue as panic.

Filled up with Shell V Power diesel on Saturday. No queues, no shortages.

Now have a full tank ready for when the media next spark panic buying.

[Ari]

No issues whatsoever where I live.

Plus the media are full of headline stories about the fuel crisis being over. Oh wait, no clickbait in that, best ignore it and move onto the next self-made panic.

[Murph7355]

Donbot said:

This thread has quietened down a bit. I guess everyone can get fuel now?

Round 'ere the panic lasted about 3 days. 5 days if you count a short queue as panic.

Clearly a handful of army tanker drivers was enough to solve the critical shortages the country was facing making us the apparent laughing stock of Europe, making everyone realise that leaving the EU was a heinous mistake and that Boris is the Devil incarnate.

Makes you wonder how much BP will be offering those guys to jump ship and why they couldn't pull their feckin fingers out to do so a few months ago rather than writing sob stories to government....

[yellowjack]

swisstoni said:

If anything the stations are now unusually empty where I am (and it was mad for 2 weeks here).

Presumably because a lot of people have now got a brimmed tank and 6 months supply at home to get through.

Talking to the lady at our local Esso this morning when I strolled in for a newspaper. Things are definitely "back to normal" on the supply side, but she says it's a lot quieter this past week with demand now down. Probably something to do with lower mileage drivers having full tanks and not using the fuel in them, and other folk who (in Rose's words) "were rather selfish and greedy, filling four or five cans as well as their cars". Nice to hear from her that the staff there didn't experience any of the nastiness that seemed to be a feature of "the fuel crisis" in the media though.

[Muddle238]

Donbot said:

This thread has quietened down a bit. I guess everyone can get fuel now?

Round 'ere the panic lasted about 3 days. 5 days if you count a short queue as panic.

Here on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border I haven’t seen any queues or missing pumps for weeks. Can get all grades of all fuels at all forecourts. The only slight difference is that it’s a lot more expensive! Regular diesel at Shell is now what V-Power used to be, V-Power is now up to about 160p.

But I’m not bothered massively how much it costs, as long as it’s available.

[hotchy]

Muddle238 said:

Donbot said:

This thread has quietened down a bit. I guess everyone can get fuel now?

Round 'ere the panic lasted about 3 days. 5 days if you count a short queue as panic.

Here on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border I haven’t seen any queues or missing pumps for weeks. Can get all grades of all fuels at all forecourts. The only slight difference is that it’s a lot more expensive! Regular diesel at Shell is now what V-Power used to be, V-Power is now up to about 160p.

But I’m not bothered massively how much it costs, as long as it’s available.

Iv noticed that. Its shot right up. We will be seeing £2 a litre within the next 18 months imo.

Will it put me off getting that 5.0l mustang? Nope. It will however make me use her 0.9 clio more.

[Flooble]

The prices are noticeably higher - and some people above have just commented "Don't care as long as its available".

So perhaps there was some intelligence in the leak triggering a panic. More profit to be made. Trebles all round!

[CraigyMc]

Flooble said:

The prices are noticeably higher - and some people above have just commented "Don't care as long as its available".

So perhaps there was some intelligence in the leak triggering a panic. More profit to be made. Trebles all round!

No.

[Flooble]

Hmm, interesting. I need to go and read up again on the correlation between Crude and Petrol prices.

Around here the petrol prices have jumped post-shortage from about 136 to about 143p per litre - a 5% jump in three weeks.

US Crude has gone from 75 to 82 (9%) between 27th September and today (I looked it up on DailyFX as it was easier than trying to put a ruler across to the numbers on your charts, if you want to check)

[Welshbeef]

Well drive past 3 local garages today (which last Thursday were all dry) all fully stocked no queues at all.

Finally - today at least normality.

[CraigyMc]

Flooble said:

Hmm, interesting. I need to go and read up again on the correlation between Crude and Petrol prices.

Around here the petrol prices have jumped post-shortage from about 136 to about 143p per litre - a 5% jump in three weeks.

US Crude has gone from 75 to 82 (9%) between 27th September and today (I looked it up on DailyFX as it was easier than trying to put a ruler across to the numbers on your charts, if you want to check)

Yup. Basic energy costs all over the place are jumping at constant currency.
One nice side effect of the UK having a built-in flat rate of tax on fuel is that it actually protects the consumer from the shock of price swings by ensuring a high price all the time.
UK Road fuel tax being more than half of the price at the pump means that a 10% jump in pretax fuel prices equates to less than 5% jump in post-tax price rises. (yay, it's bad all the time!).

There are variations in commodities prices worldwide at the moment; the price of lumber in the US has already fallen back to pre-2018 levels, whereas it's not quite peaked over here.

Oil prices (fossil fuels generally) are quite liquid.

[skwdenyer]

CraigyMc said:

Yup. Basic energy costs all over the place are jumping at constant currency.
One nice side effect of the UK having a built-in flat rate of tax on fuel is that it actually protects the consumer from the shock of price swings by ensuring a high price all the time.
UK Road fuel tax being more than half of the price at the pump means that a 10% jump in pretax fuel prices equates to less than 5% jump in post-tax price rises. (yay, it's bad all the time!).

There are variations in commodities prices worldwide at the moment; the price of lumber in the US has already fallen back to pre-2018 levels, whereas it's not quite peaked over here.

Oil prices (fossil fuels generally) are quite liquid.

Lol at the strange justification for high regressive taxation through fuel prices.

[CraigyMc]

skwdenyer said:

CraigyMc said:

Yup. Basic energy costs all over the place are jumping at constant currency.
One nice side effect of the UK having a built-in flat rate of tax on fuel is that it actually protects the consumer from the shock of price swings by ensuring a high price all the time.
UK Road fuel tax being more than half of the price at the pump means that a 10% jump in pretax fuel prices equates to less than 5% jump in post-tax price rises. (yay, it's bad all the time!).

There are variations in commodities prices worldwide at the moment; the price of lumber in the US has already fallen back to pre-2018 levels, whereas it's not quite peaked over here.

Oil prices (fossil fuels generally) are quite liquid.

Lol at the strange justification for high regressive taxation through fuel prices.

Not justifying it, because it's not just.

[Biggy Stardust]

skwdenyer said:

Lol at the strange justification for high regressive taxation through fuel prices.

People with less money can't afford as much stuff as richer people but you choose to interpret it politically.

Life's tough, sometimes. We all have to deal with it.

[surveyor]

Biggy Stardust said:

skwdenyer said:

Lol at the strange justification for high regressive taxation through fuel prices.

People with less money can't afford as much stuff as richer people but you choose to interpret it politically.

Life's tough, sometimes. We all have to deal with it.

Very easy to say when you have the fluidity to deal with it. Bit harder to deal with for those many who were already on the edge.

[KTMsm]

hotchy said:

Will it put me off getting that 5.0l mustang? Nope. It will however make me use her 0.9 clio more.

I've never understood this type of thinking - you (will) have a decent car but would rather save a few quid and drive something awful some of the time.

Wouldn't you be better off buying a decent 2 / 3 / 4 litre and using that all the time - or LPG convert the Mustang ?

[pquinn]

KTMsm said:

hotchy said:

Will it put me off getting that 5.0l mustang? Nope. It will however make me use her 0.9 clio more.

I've never understood this type of thinking - you (will) have a decent car but would rather save a few quid and drive something awful some of the time.

Wouldn't you be better off buying a decent 2 / 3 / 4 litre and using that all the time - or LPG convert the Mustang ?

Or just accept that compared to the rest of the costs of owning and using the thing fuel isn't that much and just accept the bills? Bit pointless ploughing in most of the cost then worrying about a little extra on top.

[F6C]

hotchy said:

We will be seeing £2 a litre within the next 18 months imo.

Doubt it. Last time pumps price spiked (not all that long ago), I believe that £1.50 was found to be quite the psychological barrier. Beyond that level, car usage saw a drop off. It's why fuel duty hasn't risen much for years - government fear of the very real risk that raising duty would actually net less revenue due to discouraging car use.

Obviously if oil prices go high enough then pump prices will have to follow. But I don't think oil prices alone will force pump prices to that level and there are pressures in the opposite direction which will tend to keep pump prices well below £2 if oil prices allow.

Of course, if the £ is significantly devalued by inflation, then pump prices could hit £2+ by that means, but that's a whole separate issue.

[oyster]

F6C said:

hotchy said:

We will be seeing £2 a litre within the next 18 months imo.

Doubt it. Last time pumps price spiked (not all that long ago), I believe that £1.50 was found to be quite the psychological barrier. Beyond that level, car usage saw a drop off. It's why fuel duty hasn't risen much for years - government fear of the very real risk that raising duty would actually net less revenue due to discouraging car use.

Obviously if oil prices go high enough then pump prices will have to follow. But I don't think oil prices alone will force pump prices to that level and there are pressures in the opposite direction which will tend to keep pump prices well below £2 if oil prices allow.

Of course, if the £ is significantly devalued by inflation, then pump prices could hit £2+ by that means, but that's a whole separate issue.

Why would car usage drop off after prices hit £1.50 a litre? There might be some small psychological element, but that would be tiny. Any increase in fuel prices will change behaviour - whether it's a switch to EV, switch to smaller car, drive slower, use car less etc.

As to the fuel duty piece, whilst there is undoubtedly a laffer curve factor, I think it's more to avoid the political fallout from an increase.

[Biggy Stardust]

surveyor said:

Very easy to say when you have the fluidity to deal with it. Bit harder to deal with for those many who were already on the edge.

I get out of bed at daft o'clock to work in vile places to afford what I want. Others have the same option, although I accept that whingeing about unfairness would be much easier.