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Mid-East violence agitates market
Page 18
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Although the cost of diesel in Europe has remained stable this month, the Israel/Lebanon conflict is causing oil prices to surge to a record high.
Jon Brooke-Langham, Keyfuels
Considering the situation in the Middle East there was surprisingly little price fluctuation across Europe this month. The only countries to see a price change of greater than 1% were Ireland, where prices rose by 2.84% to €1.12, and Poland, where prices rose by 4.6% to €0.99. UK prices rose by 0.72% and unsurprisingly remain the highest in Europe at €1.43 (€0.19 higher than the second highest, Italy).
The bigger picture is that oil prices are continually being pushed higher by rising global demand, instability in the major oil producing countries Iran and Nigeria and concerns about the risks hurricanes pose to US production.
This month, the escalating violence in Israel and Lebanon further agitated the market. Although neither country is a major oil producer, some investors fear that the conflict could quickly destabilise the wider Middle East region, the world's most important oil centre. Even though the oil producers' body OPEC has insisted that the market is well supplied, the instability meant that on 13 July oil prices surged to a record high of more than $78 a barrel.
Fleet operators hardly need be reminded of the price pressure on them to become more fuel-efficient. Every fleet has efficiency weak points but until you know there is a problem and where it is, how do you fix it?
My advice to you would be to use fuelcard reporting by exception to highlight unusual consumption patterns. Once you have highlighted there is a problem you can investigate further into whether it is driver or vehicle-related, then use targets to improve the situation.