BEIRUT (Reuters) -Firefighters put out a blaze that raged for several hours at a gasoline storage tank in southern Lebanon on Monday, the latest blow to a nation grappling with crippling economic and fuel crises. There were no reports of casualties in the fire at the Zahrani oil facility on the Mediterranean coast, which had sent a huge column of smoke into the sky. Energy minister Walid Fayad said the fire resulted from a mistake while gasoline was being transported from one storage tank to another, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. We must await the results of the investigation into the causes of the fire, he added. A security source and a witness said the blaze had been put out after a battle that lasted most of the morning. Fire trucks from Beirut some 45 km (30 miles) away were ordered to go and help, the NNA reported. The gasoline belonged to the army, the prime minister s office earlier quoted Fayad as saying earlier. The army had diverted traffic away from the facility i
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that 127 drivers had applied for fuel trucker visas amid an acute shortage of drivers that has strained supply chains to breaking point. Johnson told BBC TV that the haulage industry had been asked to provide the details of drivers who were willing to come to Britain, and it had only given 127 names. What that shows is the global shortage, he said. The Times newspaper reported that just 27 fuel tanker drivers had applied. With fuel companies and supermarkets warning that a shortage of drivers was hitting deliveries, the government said late last month that it would temporarily reverse its immigration rules and give 5,000 visas for EU drivers to operate in Britain. It said 300 of those could arrive immediately to drive oil tankers. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kate Holton)
(Reuters) - Authorities in Oman urged thousands of residents in coastal areas to leave their homes and head to emergency shelters on Saturday as the Gulf state braced for tropical storm Shaheen to intensify into a category 1 tropical cyclone. The Omani National Committee for Emergency Management called for the evacuations in the northern states of Barka and Saham and coastal areas including parts of the capital, Muscat, where Shaheen is forecast to strike on Sunday, bringing high winds and heavy rain. Most of the oil-exporting country s five million people live in and around Muscat. Oman s Civil Aviation Authority said on Friday it expected Shaheen to strengthen into a category 1 tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours, forecasting rough seas and urging residents to keep away from low-lying areas in case of flash flooding. (Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Editing by Helen Popper)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) -Britain ordered soldiers on Wednesday to start driving fuel tankers to replenish empty pumps, as motorists remained mired in queues after nearly a week of shortages, despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying the situation was improving. Britain has been gripped by a rush of panic buying that has left pumps dry across major cities, after oil companies warned they did not have enough tanker drivers to move petrol and diesel from refineries to filling stations. Opponents blame the crisis on government incompetence and its unyielding approach to Brexit, which has blocked hauliers from hiring drivers from the EU since Britain abandoned the common market this year. London says the disruption is partly an unforeseen result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said 150 soldiers would be driving tankers within a few days, and civilians would start shipments later on Wednesday using a government reserve fleet of ar
(Bloomberg) Vitol Group, the world’s biggest independent oil trader, expects global crude demand to climb by an extra half a million barrels a day this winter as a gas-led energy crunch drives a rush for other fuels. Oil is most likely headed above $80 a barrel, partly as higher gas prices boost demand, Vitol Chief Executive Officer Russell Hardy said in an interview from London on Thursday. That could force OPEC+ producers to add more supply into the market, he said. “Can demand surprise us to the upside because of power switching? Yes,” Hardy said. “Is it likely that there’s half a million barrels a day of extra demand that comes through because of gas pricing? Probably our view is, that is likely across winter.” Hardy’s bullish view echoes that of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is predicting higher crude prices, especially if the winter months are colder than normal. Traders have been assessing the likely impact of a tightening natural gas market on the broader ener