A shortage of truck drivers has disrupted fuel supplies to petrol stations and resulted in panic buying. The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) reported that in some areas, 50% to 90% of refill stations were without fuels. Drivers lined for hours at pumps that still had fuels, albeit often rationed. On Monday, BP said more than 30% of its stations in Britain had run out of the two main fuel grades. Meanwhile, Shell said that it saw higher-than-usual demand at its British network, with some stations running low on some fuel grades.
The trucker shortage came as Britain’s fuel retail sector was recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Oil product demand dropped by more than 23% in 2020 due to the pandemic, which forced refineries to slash production and imports. Diesel for road use accounts for around 40% of Britain’s oil product consumption, followed by gasoline (20%), jet fuel (11%), burning oil (8%), gasoil, and other petroleum products (8%).
