Petrol prices up after dirty fuel affair

05 March 2007

Petrol prices up across the country
Oil companies said to be cashing in
Supermarkets and refineries under fire, too

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Oil companies have been accused of cashing in on the dirty fuel episode after petrol prices rose over the weekend.

Last week, silicon was found in samples of fuel supplied from the Vopak terminal in Essex to supermarkets including Tesco and Morrisons. With drivers now shunning supermarket fuel stations, many believe that oil companies are profiting by putting prices up as they take their custom to mainstream petrol stations.

The average rise is thought to be around 2.5p nationally, but prices went up by almost 4p a litre, from 87p to 90.9p at a BP service station in Malvern, Worcestershire. A filling station in Thurso, which lies hundreds of miles from the contaminated fuel, raised its prices by 3p per litre to 94.9p.

Ray Holloway, of the Petrol Retailers' Association, said 'Motorists outside of the South-east of England who thought they might have got away trouble-free will now, from Lands End to John O'Groats, pay the price of the contamination through higher fuel prices.'

Supermarkets and refineries under fire, too
Not only are supermarkets under criticism for allowing motorists to fill up after the first complaints of contamination were made, they're also facing compensation bills of up to £10 million.

The contamination was traced to the Vopak refinery in Essex, which supplies Asda, Tesco and Morrisons stores. It is thought that an additive used in the production of unleaded petrol, thought to be toluene, contained excess levels of silicon. Silicon is used to stop other fuels, including diesel, frothing.

The firm which refined the fuel, Harvest Energy, has said it will now routinely test for the presence of silicon in unleaded petrol, something it didn't do before, because silicon would not normally be found in the fuel.