Lanarkshire pumps run dry as fuel shortage grips

May 1 2008 Report by Sandra Walls

THE Grangemouth Oil Refinery industrial action ended on Tuesday but the effects of the two-day strike continued in Lanarkshire throughout the week.

Industrial action began at 6am on Sunday, when 1200 workers in the plant walked out in protest over plans by Ineos, who run the plant, to end the final salary pension scheme for new workers, along with other pension changes.

The strike disrupted fuel supplies, and halted much of the UKs North Sea Oil production.

Owner of Avondale Services, Angus MacDougall, 27 Hamilton Road, Strathaven, buys his petrol and diesel from Scottish Fuels.

He said on Monday: “We completely ran out of fuel last Friday afternoon.

“My last delivery of petrol on Monday, April 21, saw prices rise from £1.08 to £1.10.”

“I am expecting a delivery of diesel tomorrow (Tuesday), and as I work on a fixed profit margin the price will rise from £1.20 to £1.27 per litre.”

At Motherwell’s Vicarburn Motors Ltd., Carfin Road, on Monday afternoon, motorists were reduced to only one pump serving unleaded.

Margaret Hay, store assistant, said: “We fully expect to be out of petrol by the end of the day.

“We have had no diesel since last Wednesday, and only received a supply yesterday (Wednesday). However, we are still without petrol.”

Margaret, who has been an assistant at the shop for 20 years said drivers who were not regular customers were coming from outwith the district to fill-up £80 and £90 per time.

She added: “They’re doing our regular customers out of their petrol.”

Vicarburn say they will hold off increasing prices until prices rise from suppliers Scottish Fuel.

Karen Kerr, manager of Earnock Service Station on Wellhall Road, said on Tuesday: “We ran out of fuel on Friday, and are assured that we will be receiving fuel today.

“We won’t be placing restrictions on fuel purchases.”

Prices at Earnock Service Station, stand at £107.9 for unleaded, and £118.9 for diesel.

Olga Gorodilina, spokeswoman for Shell: said: “We offer, on average, the cheapest fuel in the UK across the central belt, and are working around the clock to ensure our Shell stations receive their supplies.”

Brogan Fuel, Nethan Street, Motherwell, are the largest fuel distributors in Scotland, with a fleet of 90 tankers.

They supply red diesel to a range of users.

At the turn of the year the fuel was priced at 52p per litre, and on Monday, according to a construction company who use Brogan, prices had risen to 64p, and a further increase to 84p was put in place on Tuesday.

Alan Tait, managing director of Brogan Fuels, said: “The increased price of a delivered barrel of Gasoil is purely down to the bulk rate price which has increased over 22p per litre in the last year.

“The cost of a steel barrel has also risen over 50 per cent, so we had to pass this on to the customer.

“Our actual margin on delivered barrels to sites has remained the same.”

“We have seen a rise of approximately 5p per litre on all three bulk grades of product - Diesel, Gasoil and Kerosene, delivered with our tankers, as the price of a barrel of crude hit a record high of $120, partly due to the speculation regarding the Grangemouth strike.”

Brogan state that they have retained the same profit margin during the strike, and their percentage profit return is actually reducing.

Mr Tait added: “We have worked tirelessly in the last week for our customers to ensure they don’t run out of fuel.”