JULY 2020 THE ALTERNATIVE FUELS ISSUE CROWN OIL ADDRESSING RENEWABLE FUELS NICHOLL FUEL OILS TALKING AUTOMATION MANAGING FUEL QUALITY REMEMBER LAST YEAR’S ISSUES? FAME HASN’T GONE AWAY. DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT AGAIN - ACT NOW! MANAGE YOUR FUEL AND YOUR CUSTOMERS’ FUEL USING PROVEN PRODUCTS FROM exocet ® GAS OIL GAS OIL SLUDGEBUSTER CONDITIONER SUPREME Fuel Additive Science Technologies Limited | Tel. 01743 761415 | www.fastexocet.co.uk Being certain in times of uncertainty I write this as the country emerges to work and the high street, while The independent voice for the fuel distribution, storage MANAGING FUEL QUALITY from some of the requirements of simultaneously increasing the risk of a and marketing industry in the UK and Ireland. the lockdown. With shops and leisure second wave. The right policies to drive facilities beginning to reopen to a the recovery are needed and policy 5-7 NEWS government message of ‘spend spend decisions are never easy. spend’, there is a sense of a world The fuel oil distribution industry 7 PEOPLE MOVES awaiting a resumption of something continues to await a clear policy REMEMBER LAST YEAR’S ISSUES? vaguely resembling the normal we framework for the transition to net zero, 8-9, 11 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS once took for granted. There is also a with the offshore industry calling for a The role of liquid fuel in a post-fossil fuel era sentiment of potential in the energy sector deal for its involvement in wider 11 DIVERSIFICATION CORNER FAME HASN’T GONE AWAY. markets. Oil prices have enjoyed an UK efforts to decarbonise. In these Ford Fuel Oils adds own brand lubricant range to website upward trend since the historic lows pages we review some of the options of April but haven’t yet reached the being considered in the downstream 12-13 IN CONVERSATION tipping point, and sporadic lifts flatter sector to achieve carbon reductions Crown Oil – addressing the need for renewable fuels to deceive with mid-June having seen through alternative liquid fuels. We the first week-on-week oil price decline hear from Crown Oil about its forward- 15 IRISH FOCUS after two months of steady recovery. thinking investment in HVO and we Nicholl Fuel Oils – keeping Northern Ireland moving with The rapidly changing lockdown also hear compelling arguments for the automated filling stations policy is no surprise, given the ONS place of non-fossil liquid fuels in the 16 PORTLAND MARKET REPORT announcement that Britain’s economy future heating sector. Considering the post-pandemic oil outlook suffered the largest contraction on Occasionally a topic seems to record in April, with GDP shrinking grab an unusual amount of attention 18-19 INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE by a massive 20.4% and Covid-19 in a short time span and currently, Is hydrogen the future fuel for trucks? responsible for the loss of 600,000 hydrogen is one of those cropping up in UK jobs. It is clear the current and many articles.This issue is no exception 20-21 INDUSTRY INSIGHT future economic consequences of the as we consider the role hydrogen may An update on the status of the UK biofuels sector virus are fast overshadowing its public play in future fuelling. PRICING PAGE health impact, leaving the world stuck 22 between a rock and a hard place. The future remains uncertain, but 23 IN PROFILE The easing of lockdowns may initiate werever it takes us, we look forward to “I have eaten and drunk too much but had a great life so DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT economic recovery as people return journeying into it with you. far” – Jonathan Turner AGAIN - ACT NOW! On the cover In this issue One look at the registration plate of With increasing calls for the sector to play Crown Oil’s 8-wheeler DAF tanker is its part in decarbonisation, our ‘Industry MANAGE YOUR FUEL AND YOUR CUSTOMERS’ enough to see what it is transporting Analysis’ considers the opportunities and across the UK. To find out more about challenges that alternative liquid fuels FUEL USING PROVEN PRODUCTS FROM Crown Oil’s commitment to HVO, see ‘In present as potential solutions in heating exocet ® Conversation’ on pages 12 & 13 and agricultural use. See pages 8,9 & 11 Contact us Managing director Irish news Annual subscription for the UK Founded in 1977 by James Smith Nick Smith Aine Faherty & Republic of Ireland is priced at Published by [email protected] £98 or €113 inc. p&p. Overseas: Ashley & Dumville Publishing, Managing editor £115 or €134. Caledonian House, Tatton Street, Margaret Major Accounts & subscriptions Back issues: £8 per copy. Knutsford, Cheshire [email protected] Berni Chetham WA16 6AG [email protected] 01565 653283 www.ashleyanddumville.co.uk Content / social media executive www.fueloilnews.co.uk Stephanie Samuel [email protected] GAS OIL GAS OIL SLUDGEBUSTER Fuel Oil News is sold solely on condition that: (1) No part of the publication is reproduced in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without a prior written agreement with the publisher. (2) The magazine will not be circulated outside the company / organisation at the address to which it is delivered, without a prior written agreement with Ashley & Dumville Publishing. CONDITIONER SUPREME The publishers gratefully acknowledge the support of those firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication. As a reciprocal gesture we have pleasure in drawing the attention of our readers to their announcements. It is necessary however for it to be made clear that, whilst every care has been taken in compiling this publication and the statements it contains, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies, or the products or services advertised. Fuel Oil News is printed on sustainable forest paper. © Ashley & Dumville Publishing. Printed by Stephens & George Print Group Tel: 01685 388888 Volume 43 No 7 Fuel Oil News | July 2020 3 Fuel Additive Science Technologies Limited | Tel. 01743 761415 | www.fastexocet.co.uk ISSN 1757-1057 Keeping the country powered Rest assured, in these challenging times we’re working as hard as ever to provide essential energy to keep the UK moving. NEWS Keeping Pay increases and job cuts at BP Annual industry In a move that will result in a pay increase for the majority of its workers, BP is to event cancelled the country adopt the voluntary Real Living Wage (RLW) as of August 1 2020. Paying all for 2020 its directly employed UK retail staff accordingly, this will affect around 5,000 UKIFDA has taken the decision to cancel powered staff working in around 300 BP-operated the 2020 EXPO which was due to take place Rest assured, in these challenging times retail sites and stores across the UK. on 18 & 19 August at the Exhibition Centre we’re working as hard as ever to provide Chief executive Bernard Looney, said; Liverpool. essential energy to keep the UK moving. “It’s important recognition of the numerous and values of BP to life day in, day out.” Guy Pulham CEO of UKIFDA says; challenges faced by our front-line staff, which However, in June, in a move expected to “Following the publication of the government’s have been highlighted during the current crisis,” significantly impact senior ranks, BP announced Plan To Rebuild Strategy, UKIFDA has been and explained that BP had been looking at plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide. Having working with Exhibition Centre Liverpool (ECL) adopting the voluntary higher standard for previously paused redundancies during the on ways in which the 2020 EXPO could be some time, as the right thing to do both for the peak of the pandemic, Bernard Looney laid the safely organised and hosted. As you know, we business and people. blame for the losses, which represent around have worked hard to try and keep the 2020 The company claims to be the first retailer 15% of the workforce and are likely to impact event in the calendar as in the forecourt sector, and of such a scale, around 2,000 UK jobs, squarely at the door of a positive marker of lives to seek accreditation by the Living Wage the drop in oil prices and demand due to the returning to some sort Foundation and has a plan to ensure that this coronavirus pandemic. of normality. also applies to all its contractor staff. As part of The London-headquartered firm employs “In the end, and seeking accreditation it will commit to increase around 15,000 people in the UK. The with great reluctance, its pay rates in line with reviews of the RLW. redundancies will not affect any of its retail we have concluded that The announcement was made at the staff, but the number of group leaders will it is just not possible to company’s AGM in May. Chair of the meeting, be cut by a third, with the company saying it safely run the event that Guy Pulham senior independent director Sir Ian Davis said; will make the senior structure flatter. The CEO our members, exhibitors and delegates would “I believe this recognises the importance BP emphasised that BP must reinvent itself and want – namely a large-scale, high quality event places on our frontline employees, who serve emerge from the crisis a “leaner, faster-moving where business gets done. The lack of clarity millions of customers and bring the purpose and lower carbon company”. in the government plan from July onwards (unavoidable given that future stages depends on how the early stages progress) means that we do not know if mass gatherings will be Fleet upgrade allowed to take place in August or if local hotels or restaurants will be open for business.” continues at “We know that this will come as an enormous disappointment to all of those Watson Fuels involved, including our sponsors, exhibitors, suppliers, delegates and speakers.