London suspends competition law to facilitate gasoline supply

The British Government announced this Sunday a temporary suspension of the application of competition laws to the fuel industry to make it easier for companies to “share information” and “optimize”The supply of fuel to gas stations.

The Minister of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, met today with representatives of the sector to address the closure of service stations in the United Kingdom in recent days due to the shortage of carriers and the increase in demand due to fear of shortage.

The Government has decided to launch “Long-established contingency plans” To make sure that “Fuel supplies can be maintained in the event of serious outages”, said the minister in a statement.

This weekend 5,000 temporary visas have been announced for foreign drivers to fill vacancies in the United Kingdom in the next three months, but the transport employers have called the measure insufficient and have stressed that about 100,000 additional workers are needed.

Since the oil company BP announced on Thursday the closure of some of its stations due to not being able to bring fuel to the pumps, gas stations across the country have registered long lines of vehicles trying to fill their tanks and many of them have been forced also to close.

“Although there has always been and continues to be enough fuel in refineries and terminals, we are aware that there have been some problems with supply chains,” said today the Minister of Business and Energy.

The Executive has activated an emergency protocol that will allow “Work constructively with fuel producers, suppliers, transporters and retailers to ensure that problems are minimized as much as possible”, Kwarteng described.

The Government has also left the door open this week for the Army to collaborate with the distribution of fuel.

Representatives of companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Greenergy, Wincanton and Certas highlighted for their part, in a joint statement released by the Government, that they will work “In close collaboration during this period” with local and national authorities.

“We want to convey to citizens the reassurance that the problems are due to temporary peaks in demand and not to a national fuel shortage”, indicate industry representatives.