1PEC blames UK fuel irces on tax system
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by Guy Sheppard e of the world's most influtial oilmen has highlighted av the UK government is eping fuel prices at an arti:jelly high level.
Speaking at a conference in ;gland, OPEC secretarymoral Dr Rodriguez Araque id:"In the UK 80% of the final
price to the consumer of petrol at the pump is accounted for by national taxes and duties. Raw oil from producer countries, including OPEC, make up only 18-20% of that price. The irony is that Western countries put pres..sure on us to reduce prices by increasing output, but when prices drop they don't drop their taxes.'
Dr Araque was addressing an international oil and energy conference held at the University of Dundee.
• Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell has angered hauliers by announcing record profits for the fifth consecutive quarter.
Chairman Sir Mark MoodyStuart admitted that "high oil and gas prices had contributed a lot" to the £2.69bn profit for the first three months of this year but said the company's underlying performance had continued to improve.
Stan Robinson, managing director of Stan Robinson (Stafford), says it is wrong that oil companies such as Shell make astronomical profits from high fuel prices when the transport industry is struggling to survive. "if they opened the oil taps the price would come down," he adds. "All oil companies are raking in huge profits by keeping production low."
With a fleet of 140 vehicles, Robinson was one of the biggest operators to actively support last September's wave of fuel protests.