Shutdown 'risks petrol shortages'

Shutdown 'risks petrol shortages'

news.bbc.co.uk

Bosses at Scotland's only crude oil refinery have started a shutdown after claiming an impending strike will compromise safety.

Ineos said the Grangemouth refinery could shut for "at least a month", and warned of major fuel shortages.

"Fuel shortages are likely to begin in Scotland as early as Friday 25 April and the whole of Scotland could be without fuel for at least a month.

(visit the link for the full news article)

WOW...

At a time like tis they decide to go on strike and leave Scotland with no fuel.

Way to go.. There's obviously no point in doing anything by halves any more.

This wil also affect gas supplies too..

the action would also effectively shut down much of the North Sea's oil and gas production, a large proportion of which goes through Grangemouth, causing supplies to dry up and leading to shortages across Scotland and the north of England.

This could get out of hand and turn nasty for a lot of people. It does seem though that it will be closing for a while and the disruption wil be pain enough for the innocent.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

The panic buying has already started. A friend just outside Inverness reports queueing at the petrol pumps last night and his local garage ran out of petrol this morning. Their next delivery is due on Thursday.

I don't blame the employees for taking industrial action. The oil companies are raking the cash in. If my employer closed my pension scheme and cut benefits I'd be hopping mad too. It's just a shame their 2 day strike will have such a disproportionate effect.

The Glasgow Herald reports Ministers are looking at "contingency arrangements" for when the petrol runs out. I assume it'll be the same as last time, priority users going to designated garages to buy fuel and everyone else doing without. The Scotsman reports fuel sales in Scotland up by 50% over the weekend.

Glasgow Herald

The Scotsman

Well, that doesn't sound like any fun. I am sure this will help drive up costs all over the world as well. I also can't really blame the employee's for striking though. It just sucks how impactive the strike will be.

Holy fuel crisis batman!!

WOW, this is going to be something to watch closely, just to see how people react, I just made into town tonight, (I live and work on a farm) and I had "0" klm's left on the electronic gauge, when I got to the bowser, the price had risen AGAIN.....plus $0.12 cent to.....$1.58 per litre. No warning, just up it went. $79.40 for 50 liters. three quarters of a tank.
OMG.
I guess it is back to the old days, My grandad was born in the late 1890's, in scotland. When he was born there was no cars, just horses.
I don't know, maybe a lot of peace and quiet. He saw an entire planet change before his eyes. He lived till 94, and I'm glad he didn't have to see today. But I do know that he would probably have just shrugged his shoulder and gotten on with the job. When he and my grandma moved to australia, they were still living on wartime ration cards. And life was hard in scotland. I think it was about mid-fiftees, not sure. I wonder if we will see those days again?
I wonder if this "shutdown" for a month, is really a test case for days that are surely coming.

Breaking news from your on the spot reporter ... (haha)

Garages in Glasgow & the West of Scotland now starting to impose £15 limit on all petrol/diesel purchases. Our local Jet station is very very busy.

Chances are that the northern half of the UK is going to see some pretty nasty price hikes in the cost of fuel, especially in Scotland. They'll probably last a good few weeks, too.

As if fuel prices aren't high enough already... I can't see either the unions or the oil companies coming out of this one well.

tonight there was only one out of 11 petrol outlets still open in and had petrol for sale my area, Ayshire. The last 24 hours have seen cars stacked nose to tail with people panic buying. Even the local ASDA outlet has closed having no fuel. As a totally off the wall add-on, while at work today I noticed 4 navy frigattes in the water between the Town of Prestwick and the Isle of Arran. Wonder if they are stealing our petrol...or on a positive note, maybe they are re-supplying our local outlets ? Then again maybe not !!

Spoke to our local garage owner's Son tonight. He says their delivery tmorro has gone up in price ... and unleaded will be up another 3p to £1.15 per litre. They were thinking about filling up their underground tanks to the brim ... they can hold 60,000 litres of unleaded ... but the fuel company were looking for £27,000 up front and the garage just can't afford that.

They're seriously thinking about closing down for the next couple of weeks. The garage itself only profits by a penny ha'penny for each litre they sell once all the overheads are taken care of.

For all the hassle, what with irate motorists and traffic queues, they're just going for the easy option. Closing down altogether until it's all past.

He also mentioned the local Fire Brigade & Police have been topping up their vehicles all day at commercial garages. They've been instructed not to use their own supplies at the moment by the government.

BBC Radio Scotland are reporting both parties are off to ACAS for arbitration.

I find this story amusing, considering the SNP banging on about independence and now they are having to rely on the English refineries and strategic reserve to guarantee supply.

Not so "self reliant" as they'd like to think.... Imagine if this happened to an independent Scotland!

Oil prices in London and New York have hit fresh record highs on the risk of supply disruptions and signs that Opec is unwilling to raise output further.

US light, sweet crude hit a record high of $117.40 a barrel, while of Brent crude peaked at $114.65 a barrel.

The impending closure of a large oil refinery in Scotland, ahead of strike by workers, and its potential impact on North Sea supplies worried traders.

news.bbc.co.uk...

And the plot thickens...

So wish I could see all those cars queued up waiting to get some juice. It's kinda like the morning rush hour to work, but 24 hours a day..lol

The conciliation talks between management & union have collapsed.

BBC News

It looks like the workies are going on strike this weekend & the Grangemouth terminal, which refines 210,000 barrels of oil each day & which supplies the whole of Scotland & North of England, is going to be closed down on Sunday.

Yikes !! The panic at the pumps is really going to start tmorro.

Thank you for posting an update.

I've been going through the news and wondering if we'd hear anymore regarding that and, at last, here it is.

Well, I feel sorry for all those that really need some petrol for really major important stuff .... anyone else is either doing the shopping or going to work or running the kids to school.

Good luck Scotland

The BP Forties pipeline, which provides one third of UK daily oil output and which relies on steam & electricity provided by Grangemouth in order to function, is being closed as a result of the dispute.

This loss of output will reportedly cost the British economy up to £50 million each day. Airlines have been advised by BAA to ensure their aircraft are re-fuelled outside Scotland wherever possible in order to protect supplies. The panic at the pumps continues, with most petrol stations reporting trade as brisk. The First Minister has urged motorists not to make non essential journeys by car but to use public transport instead.

BBC Scottish News

Way to go, workies ! Who would have imagined a mere two day strike could cause so much disruption. Half the Civil Service was on strike yesterday and hardly anyone even noticed .... yet this relatively small band of refinery workers has got Scotland by the short & curlies ;-)