iesel stocks will lest but cost more
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DIESEL and petrol supplies should remain steady — at least for the next month, and there is no reason for panic buying of fuel stocks. The major oil companies said this week that they can maintain current supply levels until some time in April — after this they cannot forecast, but the price of both diesel and petrol seems set to rise no matter what happens.
Most companies are supplying fuel at 1978 demand levels and Shell said it has introduced a "control mechanism" and supplies its contracted customers with an order based on their average demand for this time last year.
This would give sufficient for operators and retailers who have not increased their requirements since this time, but a Shell spokesman admitted that a customer who needed a great deal more this year would not have his order met in full.
He said some deliveries may be a little late, but by and large deliveries were going out on time and in sufficient quantity.
The effect of limiting supplies to 1978 levels merely "takes up some slack in the system".
BP, like Shell is not accepting any new business, and is concentrating on supplying contract customers.
A company spokesman said that its deliveries — also at 1978 order levels — are only about three to four per cent down on normal requirements.
BP usually obtains about 40 per cent of its crude oil from Iran, and Iran's current production of only 45 per cent of normal production leaves BP with a 20 per cent shortfall in its crude oil supplies.
The company is making good this deficit by obtaining oil from "unusual sources" which are costing more and the increase will be passed on to the consumer.
Mobil usually obtains only seven per cent of its crude oil supplies from Iran, and so is in a better position at present. Mobil said it was meeting customers' orders in full, providing they were not above the normal level.
All the oil companies will face an increase of crude oil prices next week when the second phase of the OPEC price agreement comes into force.