Diesel disaster
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• Fuel smuggling in Northern Ireland is getting worse, according to new government statistics.
Energy minister Helen Liddell revealed to MPs last week that sales of diesel had fallen from 146 million litres in 1998 to just 114 million litres in 1999.
Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers Association, says diesel prices in the Republic of Ireland are running at around half those In Northern Ireland.
"This situation has to stop," Holloway told the Commons. "It is probably
costing the Exchequer a phenomenal £500m a year in lost revenue."
Foal analysts are predicting that last week's decision to boost oil production is not enough to bring down diesel prices.
• Keith Greenhead, director of PHH's fuel management division, says the best that hauliers can hope for in terms of fuel prices is a "period of stability of about three or four months at best". At the end of that time prices will probably rise again. Greenhead predicts.