[Peakoil] High dollar threatens oil refining, warns union

[Keith Thomas]

> On 12/03/2012, at 1:44 AM, Antony Barry wrote:
> 
> I found this article from SMH that you might be interested in:
> 
> http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/-1uso8.html

Yes, just another, early sign of what peak oil looks like.

A couple of months ago a refinery supplying 20% of the fuel (and more of its bitumen) in Britain's south-east (including London) began to close down:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-17284244

It was covered in the news, but it was treated as just another business story, with concern being mainly about local jobs. It was not covered at all as a peak oil story. Being a "business" story, they covered in a low-key way the claim that the 20% shortfall would be sourced without difficulty. Note the politician's spin on the affair!

Charles Hendry, the oil minister, said motorists should “carry on 
their lives as normal” after the Coryton plant in Essex, which 
supplies a fifth of fuel in London and the South East, halted 
supplies when its Swiss-owned parent company went into 
administration.
Fears were raised that it could lead to a rise in the price of petrol 
but Mr Hendry insisted that major companies such as BP and 
Shell would have enough fuel to keep their pumps flowing.
“We don’t want everybody to go out and get it [fuel] tonight, 
because that clearly wouldn’t be helpful,” Mr Hendry said. 
“People need to be completely confident that if they go about 
their business as normal then there is completely enough 
fuel available and that BP and Shell have been going to great 
lengths to make sure that is the case.
“There is the capacity in some of the other refineries in the UK. 
Companies like BP and Shell, who are the main buyers of the 
output from Coryton, have already made short-term arrangements 
to make sure that they get the fuel from other sources. We have 
spare import capacity so we can bring extra fuel in as necessary.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9037055/Petrol-scare-as-Coryton-oil-refinery-closes.html
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Keith Thomas
keith at evfit.com
www.evfit.com
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