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Highlights
- About 200 military personnel are set to start fuel deliveries from today in a bid to address the UK’s fuel supply crisis.
- The UK has been grappling with a fuel crisis for last few weeks due to an acute shortage of qualified HGV drivers.
The UK army is set to deliver fuel starting from today to offer temporary support, under Operation Escalin, in order to ease the ongoing petrol supply crisis.
About 200 personnel, of which 50 per cent includes HGV drivers, are being mobilised to make fuel deliveries in London and the South East, which are the areas facing the highest degree of petrol supply shortage in the country at present.
The deployed army contingent includes the 3rd Logistic Support Regiment’s personnel. This regiment underwent training in the past week with petroleum industry logistics company Hoyers in Essex.
The military have been on standby since last week as part of the government’s efforts to address the fuel crisis.
The news comes amidst the government’s statement that the petrol crisis has been easing. The UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said on 3 October that the deployment was a precautionary measure as the fuel crisis was showing signs of easing.
The UK has been struggling with a severe petrol supply crunch due to an acute shortage of lorry drivers.
Last month, British citizens had started stockpiling fuel which subsequently resulted in chaos in petrol servicing stations across the country.
In view of this news, let us take a look at 2 FTSE 100 index listed oil & gas stocks which are also among UK’s largest forecourt operators, and how they reacted to the development:
- BP PLC (LON: BP)
Multinational oil and gas giant, BP, is the largest petrol operator in the UK, operating 1,200 petrol sites under its brand.
The group had said in a joint statement with other oil and gas majors, Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) and ExxonMobil, on 29 September that their petrol supply shortage was showing signs of stabilising.
The oil giant had earlier stated that almost 30 per cent of its petrol stations had run out of two main fuel grades, which had sparked panic buying of fuel amongst British citizens in late September.
(Image source: Refinitiv)
BP’s shares were trading at GBX 339.35, up by 0.41 per cent on 4 October 2021, at 08:03 AM BST. Comparatively, the FTSE 100 was trading at 7,009.94, down by 0.24 per cent.
The company has a market cap of £67,680.90 million and has a one-year return of 58.40 per cent as of 4 October 2021.
- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON: RDSA)
Royal Dutch Shell is another British multinational oil and gas giant. The group is currently under discussion to acquire Indian state-run energy efficiency and solutions subsidiary Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), according to some media reports.
Shell is reportedly planning to invest around US$ 500 million into CESL’s solar business.
The report comes after Shell recently declared its plans to sell off its Permian basin assets as part of the company’s goals to achieve its net-zero targets by 2050.
(Image source: Refinitiv)
Royal Dutch Shell’s shares were trading at GBX 1,653.60, up by 0.35 per cent on 4 October 2021, at 08:04 AM BST. Comparatively, the oil and gas sectoral index 100 was trading at 5,838.65, down by 0.4 per cent.
The company has a market cap of £67,580.22 million and has a one-year return of 76.99 per cent as of 4 October 2021.
