[dukey]

part or most of that is tax
the government upped the tax on petrol .. like 6 months ago, but it didn't come into effect until recently.

[bl00k]

http://www.pzc.nl/internationaal/binnen ... 094133.ece

Link is in dutch, so i'll try to translate:

Diesel shortage around the corner
Oil-traders and gasstations in the Netherlands and Belgium are struggling to get their hands on some dieselfuel. Insiders say large oildepots in Roermond, Venlo, Wageningen, Cuijk and Geertruidenberg are already empty.

....

Gasstations aren't completely run out of diesel yet, "but it shouldn't take much longer, gasstations usually have around a three or four days worth supply in storage", said Pieter Peeters, director of the Van der Sluisgroup in Geertruidenberg, the biggest independent oiltrade of the Netherlands.

Oiltrader Frans van Rijswick in Roermand says the problems all started when two big refineries in the Netherlands and Belgium started doing maintenance at the same time and when a third got production problems.

...

Peeters says there is no reason to panic, but the the situation is very serious. "The whole circle of production and delivering oil is so close cut, that there's pretty much no room for mistakes. Plus the fact that tradinghouses in the port area try to store as less as possible because they are waiting for better times."

This is the first time some type of fuel shortage has reached the Netherlands as far as i can remember (which is no more than 5 years )

[Leanan]

UK Coryton refinery at half output after fire

Swiss-based Petroplus said on Friday output had fallen to nearly half its usual level at its refinery at Coryton in southen England, which was hit by a huge fire two days ago.

The company added that it would take up to a month to resume full operations at the refinery, which has a capacity to process 220,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

[pup55]

IC Wales

SOARING fuel costs will send protesters onto the streets of Britain unless the Government takes action, a veteran campaigner warned yesterday

.

Mr Williams said that as a Conservative he respected the right of companies to seek a profit, but described the prices British consumers were expected to pay as “indefensible”.

The natives are getting restless

[Leanan]

France is suffering shortages of diesel and heating oil, and possibly Belgium and Luxemburg as well.

Le Post

It's in French, but Babelfish and a French person at TOD provided this translation:

The reasons for the shortage (official answer) :

- A refinery down in Normandy for more or less expected heavy maintenance, but it's taking longer than expected (and Leanan posted the link about the refinery maintenance at Feyzin, Lyon)

- A new norm about sulfur content in heating oil

- High demand because of the cold weather

- People doing exactly the opposite as refiners: they think the price is going to skyrocket and so they order their heating oil to lock in the what they think is still a low price

Time expected for recovery : a few weeks or more.

[Leanan]

The French fishermen are continuing their protest against high fuel prices.

The fishermen expand protests in the West

It's in French, but running it through Babelfish reveals that they are blocking fuel depots.

To maintain the pressure, 300 fishermen, according to the police force, met as of 5h on the commercial port from Brest (Finistere) and 150 per same hour in Lorient (Morbihan) to prohibit the accesses of the crude oil reserves there.

The deposit of Douarnenez (Finistere) also was blocked.

It was French fishermen and truckers protesting high fuel prices that resulted in that craziness in the UK a few years ago. Gas stations dry, store shelves empty, and an angry mob chasing the prime minister.

[idomar]

The French fishermen are continuing their protest against high fuel prices.

The fishermen expand protests in the West

It's in French, but running it through Babelfish reveals that they are blocking fuel depots.

To maintain the pressure, 300 fishermen, according to the police force, met as of 5h on the commercial port from Brest (Finistere) and 150 per same hour in Lorient (Morbihan) to prohibit the accesses of the crude oil reserves there.

The deposit of Douarnenez (Finistere) also was blocked.

It was French fishermen and truckers protesting high fuel prices that resulted in that craziness in the UK a few years ago. Gas stations dry, store shelves empty, and an angry mob chasing the prime minister.

Here is an in English version Reuters UK

Once the french get going, they tend to gather momentum, next the lorry drivers will join in, i think they did last time. They know they can cripple the country, and the UK by locking the ports.

This could get serious, very quickly

[Leanan]

Thanks, idomar. I posted the English version to the front page.

[EndOfGrowth]

Are the unusually high number of refineries down for maintainance a result of the decreasing quality of crude that is killing the equipment?

Can we expect to see some shortages in the UK of diesel or unleaded due to refinery outages?

[Twilight]

The [Coryton] site is responsible for loading about 700 tankers a day to meet 22% of the UK's forecourt demand.

Source: BBC

Who knows? Those in the South-East will let us know how it works out for them these next two months.

[DantesPeak]

Production said to be unaffected at Gibraltar refinery, although I doubt that based upon initial reports:

gibfocus - 10th November 2007
(2007-11-10 07:15:00 )

Refinery Fire Services handled fire

The refinery's own fire services are said to have last night handled singlehanded an incident at the petro-chemical plant which saw a large ball of fire rise into the air from the base of one of the chimneys, and saw reports of four explosions heard by residents in the area.

According to Spanish sources, the fire was quickly under control, as fears grew amongst residents in the area after seeing the fireball, and a large plume of black dense smoke rise above the petro-chemical plant.

Gibfocus

Cepsa Refinery Fire Near Gibraltar Is Extinguished (Update1)

By Sharon Smyth

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Compania Espanola de Petroleos SA's Gibraltar San Roque refinery in southern Spain, the country's biggest, caught fire yesterday.

The fire was put out immediately and caused no damage to the refinery or its employees, said a spokeswoman for Cepsa, who declined to be identified. The plant, which has a capacity of 223,000 barrels per day, is fully operational and production wasn't affected, said the spokeswoman for Spain's second-largest oil company.

The fire broke out at around 8 p.m. local time and was caused by an electrical fault in a storeroom containing raw materials for the production of lubricants, the spokeswoman said.

Campo de Gibraltar, where the refinery is situated, is located near the British-administered territory of Gibraltar.

Bloomberg

[pup55]

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- BP PLC (BP) said U.K. fuel supplies were improving after a refinery fire triggered some shortages at its retail outlets in recent weeks, the company said Monday.

Only a "handful" of sites had run out of certain fuel grades, but customers could still use other fuels in tanks at filling stations, she said. Meanwhile, BP was working with Petroplus to ensure alternative supplies were being supplied through imports, the spokeswoman said.
In mid-November, BP informed wholesale customers it would have some supply "issues." "But the situation is improving all the time. We are doing our best to meet demand," the BP spokeswoman said at the time

Dow Jones

[Popkhorne]

Italian truckers are blocking the transit roads Switzerland - Italy in order to force the Italian government to lower the gasoline tax. Due to the road blockings some gas stations have already run out of gas.

Couldn't find an English article, sorry: Verkehr in Italien zusammengebrochen (Car traffic broke down in Italy) @ tagesanzeiger.ch.

[Leanan]

I found an English article:

Italian truck strike causes chaos

And someone at TOD posted this link in Italian. I can't read it, but he says it reports that 80% of Italian gas stations have run dry due to the strike.

[eastbay]

Google 'Italian-truckers strike' and you'll get many articles in english.

[Leanan]

Google 'Italian-truckers strike' and you'll get many articles in english.

Yeah, NOW. Back when I first posted about it, there were only two (one Reuters, one AP, both fairly out of date.)

Weirdly, even the BBC had nothing on it, even though with a protest looming this Saturday, you'd think they'd cover it. (They do have an article this morning.)

[Plantagenet]

Italian truckers are blocking the transit roads Switzerland - Italy in order to force the Italian government to lower the gasoline tax.

Gas is 8-9 dollars a gallon in Europe.....Since they pay the same price for each barrel of oil we do, the EU and Italy must be taking in 5-6 dollars of tax on each gallon.

[pup55]

helensburgh’s only filling station ran out of fuel this week as divers fearing a petrol drought rushed to the pumps.

The panic buying was sparked by the threat of strike action at Grangemouth oil refinery — which supplies 10 per cent of the UK’s fuel.

Helensburgh Advertiser

[pup55]

Farmers Guardian

OIL prices have been driven to close record levels following fears of a strike at a major refinery in Scotland and could lead to fuel shortages, NFU Scotland has warned.

The news comes after workers union Unite called the two-day strike at the Ineos oil refinery in Grangemouth after a bitter row over workers pensions.

Fuel supplies have already been hit in Scotland as consumers panic buy and, should the strike go ahead, it could have a major impact on agriculture and other rural businesses.

Scott Walker, NFUS policy manager said: “This is a busy time of year for farmers and we are already hearing reports that some suppliers are unable to fulfil demand for fuel. Some farmers are only receiving 50 per cent of their fuel orders as suppliers restrict deliveries for fear of a shortage in days or weeks to come.

Sounds serious.

[sjn]

Farmers Guardian

OIL prices have been driven to close record levels following fears of a strike at a major refinery in Scotland and could lead to fuel shortages, NFU Scotland has warned.

The news comes after workers union Unite called the two-day strike at the Ineos oil refinery in Grangemouth after a bitter row over workers pensions.

Fuel supplies have already been hit in Scotland as consumers panic buy and, should the strike go ahead, it could have a major impact on agriculture and other rural businesses.

Scott Walker, NFUS policy manager said: “This is a busy time of year for farmers and we are already hearing reports that some suppliers are unable to fulfil demand for fuel. Some farmers are only receiving 50 per cent of their fuel orders as suppliers restrict deliveries for fear of a shortage in days or weeks to come.

Sounds serious.

We have a thread