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Jon Brooke-Langham, Keyfuels
Page 20
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There has been no obvious trend in fuel price changes across Europe this month, with Belgium suffering the largest increase, at 1.34%. Ireland reported the greatest price fall (-2.08%), in Spain and France prices did not change.
However, UK prices, already the highest in Europe, continued to increase (by 0.45%) to reach €1.37. That's €0.24 higher than the next most expensive market, Italy (€1.13).
The cheapest places to buy fuel are Spain and Poland (€0.95).
These supply uncertainties, combined with increased demand in the US and the emerging economies of China and India, caused producers' group Opec to decide to maintain production at near capacity.
Opec, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Nigeria, provides more than a third of the world's oil. Recently it has consistently been producing more than 28 million barrels a day, approaching maximum levels.
This has prompted concerns among analysts that there is little slack in the system, so Opec's ability to control oil prices may be diminishing, As a result, controlling fuel consumption has never been more important.
Many operators rely on bunkering to control costs, buying their fuel in bulk and controlling the dispensing themselves.
But recent site visits have left me pondering the efficacy of this not least the example of a pump that did not display the amount of fuel dispensed.
This sort of defect will prevent managers taking any control cf their fuel budgets. Many, faced by equipment faults and tighter environmental standards, are reverting to on-the-road refuelling.
However, if you have fairly modern, well-maintained equipment it can be retrofitted with reading and control equipment to regain those essential data gathering and control functions.