The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) has warned that many petrol stations will have to close in the coming weeks, as sales of fuel dry up and their businesses become unviable.
A recent Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) survey which covered nearly 60 per cent of all PFS across the UK - including supermarkets, oil company and independent sites - showed much lower levels of fuel demand.
Petrol consumption was down by 75 per cent and diesel by 71 per cent, indicating that the Government’s “stay at home” instructions to combat the coronavirus pandemic are being heeded.
The BEIS survey also confirmed that over 60 per cent of PFS had full storage tanks of both grades on site. This fuel would have been purchased by independent stations days or weeks earlier at much higher wholesale prices than can be obtained today, with Brent Crude prices collapsing to an 18-year low of just $20 a barrel, illustrating the economic impact of...