UK fuel stocks reach ‘lowest point in years’ as worst UK regions named | UK | News

Fuel stocks at petrol stations across the UK are at their lowest level since the crisis sparked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, new data shows.

The latest available figures show forecourt gasoline and diesel stocks reached a three-year low at the end of March. Tanks across the country are using, on average, only 40 percent of their capacity. The last time fuel stocks were this low was December 2022.

Ministry of Energy Security and Net Zero data show that gasoline and diesel tanks were at their lowest in the last week of March.

The Isle of Wight, South Ayrshire, Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan and Mid and East Antrim experienced the lowest stock levels. According to the Telegraph.

In the Isle of Wight the average was just 28.5 per cent, in South Ayrshire it was 29.4 per cent, in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan it was 30.2 per cent and in Mid and East Antrim it was 30.9 per cent.

Experts suggested that low stock levels were due to an increase in demand rather than a supply shortage.

However, global oil supplies have been shaken by conflicts in the Middle East. The United States and Israel have launched joint attacks on many important targets of Iran since February 28.

Iran retaliated by targeting sites in the region and blocking the movement of oil tankers along the critical supply route in the Strait of Hormuz. 20 percent of the world’s oil trade passes through the strait.

Gordon Balmer, Chief Executive of the Petroleum Retailers Association, said: “Low stock levels can be explained by higher than normal demand at the start of the Middle East conflict.”

Fuel prices also increased; Diesel prices at motorway service stations have surpassed the £2 mark for the first time. RAC said diesel prices averaged 200.6 pence per litre, up 48.7 pence, or 34 per cent, since the start of the Iran war.

The RAC said the average price of a tank of petrol was £86.92, up £13.86 since February 28, while the cost of a tank of diesel was £105.11, up £26.80.

However, road users were not deterred from purchasing fuel. Government data shows petrol deliveries to fuel stations averaged 7,333 liters per day in the four weeks from March 1, rising to an average of 7,071 liters per day in the previous four weeks, the Telegraph reported.

Gasoline sales were higher in March than in February; In the four weeks from March 1, the daily average reached 7,615 liters; This was an increase from 7,139 liters in the previous four weeks.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero figures are based on snapshots of a sample of petrol and diesel levels from around 4,900 filling stations across the UK, covering more than four-fifths of typical sales, the Telegraph reports.

Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman for pump prices, said: “Petrol and diesel pump price increases have been painful and devastating in some places, but motorists in the UK have generally held their nerve and stuck to their fueling routines, as the AA recommends.”

“Fuel supplies were handled reasonably well; reports of pumps running low were replaced a few hours later with reports of ‘business as usual’.”

A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Pet stations across the UK are supplied as normal and we have a diverse and resilient supply. Both the AA and the UK Fuels Industry have made clear that fuel production and imports across the UK continue as usual and no issues have been reported.”