Shortage of Fuel Supply in UK and Government's Planning

You may have heard about long queues at the petrol stations across Britain as panic buying drained filling tanks at filling stations. Even though the govt and oil companies are consistently announcing about no shortage supply of oil. we will look at what has been going on and why?

What Is Going on at Petrol Stations?

"Carnage" has been called the scenes happening at a petrol station by one station owner. Long queues could be seen in East London at many petrol stations. Many drivers were waiting for the fuel since dawn to fill up their vehicles.

Many stations failed to meet the demand for fuel and had closed.

The petrol retailers association claimed that almost half of the UK petrol stations were drained on Sunday due to panic buyers including drivers and keyworkers formed long queues for filling vehicles. 

Is There Really a Shortage of Oil Supply in the UK?

Different oil companies including Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, and Greenergy have claimed that there is no shortage of oil supply, just only a temporary spike in fuel demand not a national shortage of supply.

According to govt ministers, "there isn't a shortage, people are just buying petrol as they normally would".

However, it is evident from long queues that there is a shortage of petrol at stations.

Britain's urban areas are facing the worst, while Northern Ireland is currently unaffected.

 PRA chairman simply blamed, "It is panic buying, simple and pure."

The Reason Behind This Spike

This situation is similar to the dark days of 1970, at the point when energy supply issues prompted a three-day working week and fuel proportioning in Britain.

It is suggestive likewise of late 2000, when individuals fighting over high fuel costs barred petroleum processing plants, carrying the country to a virtual stop for quite a long time.

According to British Govt, it is not only one which is facing a shortage of lorry drivers, Germany and Poland are also facing the same, putting blame on workers taking up different jobs during Covid.

But on the contrary, after Brexit, many European drivers went back to their countries or took up jobs elsewhere because of border bureaucracy and its impact on their income.

Oil Gaint Shell is claiming that it is working hard to ensure supplies, also it is observing a higher demand than normal from a couple of weeks facing some stations low petrol supply.

Will Army Step In To Tackle The Situation?

According to many newspapers, Boris Johson and his senior cabinet members are just considering bringing the army in to supply petrol to stations.

Environmental secretary George Eustice just confirmed that he wrote to the ministry of defence to train lorry drivers.

But he also insisted that there is no plan to bring troops in to run vehicles to petrol stations. He also added people are buying petrol over their needs.

What Else Is The UK Government's Plan About This Crisis???

To tackle the fuel shortage:

• Govt claimed to suspend the competition bill among the companies. it will help them to share information about fuel shortages and supplies.
• To handle the shortage of lorry drivers, the Government also announced 5000 temporary visas to foreign fuel tankers and food lorry drivers.
• They also sent letters to almost a million lorry drivers having HGV to come back to their jobs and also planning to train 4000 others to become HGV drivers.