Wincanton has strengthened its position in the UK energy sector with the renewal of its contract with Total.
The three year contract – the third in a row between the two companies – means that Wincanton will continue to manage Total’s maintenance warehouse facility at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire.
Under the terms of the agreement Wincanton retains responsibility for the management and control of Total’s warehouse facilities containing around 31,000 stored units used in the refinery’s repair and maintenance. Wincanton will also continue to have responsibility for receiving deliveries, kit preparation, project control, stock audit, inspection functions and on-site chemical and gas deliveries.
According to Chris Kingshott, Wincanton’s managing director for manufacturing, the company’s commitment to working in close partnership with its customers to help increase productivity and efficiency, coupled with its health and safety record, were key factors in securing the contract renewal
“Like us, Total is a business synonymous with extremely high levels of health and safety,” he said. “What’s more, its success worldwide is built upon a culture of continuous improvement and astute cost management, goals very much aligned with our own and a major factor in our two businesses’ long and successful partnership.”
As part of its commitment to encourage more young people to look at the logistics sector as viable career options, Wincanton will place two apprentices on the Total contract.
Phillips 66 has upgraded its extranet portal ready for the launch of a complementary mobile pricing app. ‘My Phillips 66’ has been developed by the company as a data delivery mechanism for customers across its entire retail, wholesale, aviation, LPG and marine network.
‘My Phillips 66’ replaces the previous CPNet. The new portal provides customers with personalised business content, such as invoices, daily prices and lifting allocation details. It also contains up-to-date industry news, HSE related content and information on supply locations.
Final work is currently underway on the development and imminent launch of a complementary ‘My Phillips 66’ app for use on android and Apple devices. Initially, the app will give users instant access to pricing information but will have the facility for future add-ons and enhancements.
Pete George, managing director of Phillips 66 UK & Ireland marketing, commented: “While CPNet still performed a useful role, it was running on outdated software architecture and was no longer supported on a number of web browsers. We approached our customers to get their feedback on what functions they wanted to see in an upgraded extranet.
“With ‘My Phillips 66’, users will be able to choose from both a desktop website and a mobile app experience for pricing.”
He added: “It provides our customers on-the-spot access to personalised, business-critical information and puts them in control of how they gather data from us. We’re confident that we’ve developed a solid foundation on which to upgrade and add on extra features in the future as our and our customers’ needs change.”
Customer training on ‘My Phillips 66’ is already underway using online videos and face to face guidance.
www.phillips66.com
Greenergy’s fuel storage terminal at Plymouth has been shortlisted for a prestigious global safety award by the Energy Institute (EI).
The EI awards recognise companies which have set new standards of excellence and innovation in their day to day operations. Greenergy’s shortlisting reflects the company’s ability to maintain and improve safety standards during an extensive regeneration programme.
Over the last five years Greenergy has undertaken major improvement work at its Plymouth terminal to bring it into line with the latest safety and environmental standards. 15 tanks have been restored or replaced, new truck loading facilities installed and there has been a complete overhaul of safety and maintenance procedures, making it one of the first terminals in the UK to adopt post Buncefield standards.
Earlier this year Greenergy’s Plymouth facility was also awarded its first Gold RoSPA award, following four consecutive Silver awards, in recognition of its outstanding health and safety management.
Nathan Leaver, Greenergy’s Plymouth terminal manager, said: “Being shortlisted for the Energy Institute safety award demonstrates the hard work and determination of the team in ensuring that the terminal is safe and efficient. It also shows us that our drive to innovate and instil new standards can be used as a benchmark throughout the industry.”
The winning entry will be announced on 13 November.
Michael Cundy, appointed managing director of Suttons’ tanker division
Suttons Group has announced the appointment of Michael Cundy as the new managing director for its UK based road tanker division.
Michael has worked for Suttons Group since 2005 and previously held the position of HR director which also included overseeing safety, health, environment, quality (SHEQ) and commercial workshop functions. He has been a main board director at Suttons for the past five years and, says Group CEO John Sutton, “an integral driving force behind the company’s recent string of acquisitions and year-on-year growth.”
“I am particularly pleased to announce Michael’s appointment. He is a highly respected and experienced member of the Suttons’ leadership team and his contribution since joining the group board has been significant,” says John Sutton.
“Michael will bring an extra dimension to our UK tankers business and his knowledge and skills will be essential as we look to considerably grow the road tanker logistics business, both in the U.K. and Europe.”
Commenting on his appointment, Michael says: “I am delighted to be given the opportunity to lead Suttons’ tanker division at such an exciting time. Suttons has a strong reputation in the marketplace, committed to innovation through its product offerings and developing customer focussed solutions. I will be looking at how we can take this to the next level by enhancing the services we provide and to our customers with a focus on service, innovation, flexibility and safety.”www.suttonsgroup.com
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JET has increased its presence in north east England through new contracts with Penny Petroleum. Seven new sites have joined the network and a further three sites have signed retie deals.
Owned by David Penny, Penny Petroleum has a portfolio of 25 retail sites, the majority of which are located in the north of England. David has operated three sites under the JET brand since 2009 and has now also moved seven recently acquired sites over to the brand.
All ten JET-branded sites have a combined fuel volume of 30 million litres annually and are supplied by Phillips 66 from Teesside terminal. The sites are now in the new JET livery.
David Penny commented: “I’ve worked with JET for five years now and have always found them really easy to deal with and very flexible in terms of meeting my needs as a business owner. The three sites that we already had with JET were performing very well, so when choosing a brand for the other sites, it was an easy decision to go with JET.”
Carl Smaller, territory manager for JET, added: “North east England has been a core retail region for Phillips 66 for many decades so we are delighted to expand our network coverage in this region with these new site wins. David is clearly operating a very successful business model and we very much look forward to welcoming these sites into our dealer network and building this relationship further in the future.”
Blackburn-based Euro Garages – featured in the October issue of Fuel Oil News – has secured the 2014 Forecourt Retailer of the Year award for multiple sites at The Retail Industry Awards.
This year’s event – now firmly established as the ‘Oscars’ of the grocery industry – took place at The Grosvenor House Hotel, London, at the end of September.
Commenting on his company’s success, Zuber Issa, chief executive officer of Euro Garages, said: “The Retail Industry Awards prove that the quality of retail provision in the United Kingdom remains incredibly high. Everybody at Euro Garages is thrilled to be recognised alongside household brands such as Waitrose, Asda, Sainsbury’s and SPAR. As well as showcasing a wide range of retail offers and new product launches , the evening was a wonderful opportunity to recognise the very best of British retail.”
Euro Garages is one of the UK’s largest privately-owned forecourt operators with over 180 sites, employing around 2,500 people. This is the third such accolade for the company, having been named Forecourt Trader of the Year in 2011 and again in 2013.
David Blevings, Ireland manager of OFTEC
As Northern Ireland’s energy companies joined together to celebrate Energy Aware Week last week, OFTEC issued an “energy savings challenge” to householders that could help them save up to £50 per month on their energy bills.
Energy Aware Week, which ran from 13th – 19th October, is a joint initiative by Northern Ireland energy companies to increase awareness of energy efficiency and provide homeowners with practical help and advice to make their money go further.
As part of the campaign, OFTEC issued the following money-saving tips, challenging local householders to be more energy efficient and to help cut their energy bills by £50 per month:· Turn your thermostat down – try and keep the room at 19°C. Increasing room temperature by only 1°C, can increase heating costs by 10%, whilst reducing temperature by 1°C can save almost £6 per month.· Service your boiler – by servicing your boiler, you could improve your overall efficiency by 10%, saving up to £100 per year.· Turning off standby – by properly switching off those appliances that often sit on standby at the mains, householders can make a saving of £4 per month -almost £50 a year.· Swap to energy saving light bulbs – switching from regular to energy saving light bulbs can save £55 per year, almost £5 per month.· Be water efficient – by taking a shower instead of a bath and you’ll use a lot less hot water, and with a water-efficient head to your shower, you could save about £75 a year on your energy bill, around £6 per month.
Additional measures suggested by OFTEC that homeowners can take to ensure even greater long-term cost savings include:· Consider switching to a condensing boiler – this change could reduce the annual oil bill by 18% – a cost saving of £21 per month and £259 per annum for a typical 3 bedroom house.· Fit heating controls – simple control measures, including a 7 day programmer with room and cylinder thermostats and a motorised control, allows separate hot water and space heating. The installation of these controls could mean a reduction in the fuel bill of up to 30%.· Insulate your home – cavity wall insulation can lead to a monthly saving of almost £10.· Fit draught stripping across doors – eliminating small draught gaps can lead to a saving of around £100 a year, or £8 per month.
David Blevings, Ireland manager of OFTEC commented: “Energy Aware Week is all about highlighting the ways that homeowners can become more energy smart. The week is a chance to inform homeowners on the small changes they can make to cut their energy bills, often at no cost. There are additional measures homeowners can also take which do require initial investment, but these can provide even greater savings in the long term.”
Energy Aware Week is supported by a range of partners, including OFTEC, Phoenix Gas, Bryson Energy, Firmus Energy, Glow Worm, Grant Boilers, Power NI, SSE Airtricity, Valliant and Worcester.
Senior driver trainer, Chris Hill has been seconded to Tanzania
Hoyer Petrolog UK is renewing its support for Transaid, the international development charity focused on transport management and driver training in developing countries.
Hoyer Petrolog has previously seconded three trainers to deliver driver and hazardous goods training with Transaid and this month the company is seconding one of its most senior driver trainers, Chris Hill, to a project in Tanzania.
Chris who is based at Hythe terminal is a full-time driver training instructor for Hoyer Petrolog UK. He was seconded to Transaid’s professional driver training project at the National Institute of Transport (NIT) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, in February 2012 to deliver the first input of driver training there and before that was seconded to the Industrial Training Centre (ITC) in Lusaka, Zambia.
Hoyer says that despite the challenges of limited availability of equipment that might be considered standard in the UK, being able to make improvements in driver technique and to improve the handling of dangerous goods has proved to be personally and professionally fulfilling for its trainers.
Operations director, Allan Davison, said: “Hoyer Petrolog is delighted to support the excellent work Transaid undertakes – we truly believe that the work undertaken by Transaid has made a real difference in improving road safety in Zambia and Tanzania.”
Transaid’s acting chief executive, Caroline Barber, commented: “Every year 1.3 million people die in road accidents across the world – of which 90% take place in developing countries. In order for Transaid to keep improving road safety in Africa it is vital that we can work with companies such as Hoyer Petrolog.
“We are extremely grateful to the company for their continued support and for offering their time and skills to develop the expertise of trainers at the NIT which ultimately helps to address dramatic statistics and save many lives.”
Alex Longman is a man with a real fiery passion for tanker driving, Fuel Oil News deputy editor, Liz Boardman went to Dragon Petroleum to meet him.
With the exception of Italy and partially Sweden, the UK is almost unique among EU members in operating a compulsory oil stock holding system in which responsibility for compliance and management of the country’s Compulsory Stock Obligation (CSO) rests entirely with participants in the oil market – refiners/ex refiners and importers/wholesalers.
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As the 10th September deadline looms, the race is on for operators to ensure drivers have completed the required 35 hours of Driver CPC training
According to figures issued by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency earlier this year of the 750,000 HGV and PCV drivers on its training database just under 707,000 had engaged with the Driver CPC.
Although the scheme was introduced nearly five years ago, there are fears that there will be a shortfall of drivers in September once the deadline has passed.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) is offering training courses throughout August.
“The clear message from FTA to anyone who hasn’t completed their Driver CPC training yet is – it’s not too late,” says June Powell, director of compliance management. “We’re ready and able to support and work with operators to ensure that they beat the September Driver CPC deadline.”
Ensuring compliance
“Since the conception of Driver CPC and the Petroleum Driver Passport (PDP), Certas Energy’s dedicated training team has approached the programme requirements effectively to ensure full compliance and integration, whilst minimising disruption to our business,” says national training manager, Paul Starns.
“We have six dedicated training managers and 82 practical driver trainers who follow a planned training structure throughout the year. Despite our careful planning, we do not believe in a tick box approach to Driver CPC and PDP. We currently have five Driver CPC/PDP courses so our drivers do not sit the same course each year. We do, of course, complete other training for our drivers outside of compliance related training. The training is being very well received by our drivers, with the combined theoretical/practical training providing a thorough and comprehensive training plan.
“Certas Energy has a very effective safety first programme backed by the board, the main aim of this is to minimise the risk of any potential incidents through the professional and proactive delivery of our training programmes. The Driver CPC and PDP complement our bespoke safety first programme, ensuring the safety of our drivers and our wider community.”
“We bit the Driver CPC bullet right away as we’re fortunate enough to have an excellent local training organisation,” said Kevin Bennetts, managing director of Consols Oils. “We were fully up to speed in late 2013.
“However, Driver CPC is yet another costly imposition that impacts on the bottom line of every truck operator forced to embrace and adapt to it.
“When compared with general haulage, the fuel distribution industry undoubtedly has a unique set of training requirements. This creates a need for very high calibre staff capable of thinking for themselves when loading, transporting fuel and dealing with customers in a safe responsible manner.”
Petroleum Driver Passport – a step too far?
“What really gets my back up is the recently introduced Petroleum Driver Passport scheme,” Kevin added. “On the face of it, it’s a worthwhile series of practical assessments but still an imposition too far which we’re forced to embrace because we load out of third party terminals.
“To ensure ongoing safety and productivity, I’ve no problem with structured training that produces highly skilled staff and ensures periodic skills updates. I do however have a problem when it involves obtaining three different pieces of paper at different times in order to get into the cab of a tanker.
“In my view the whole lot could be accomplished in one well-structured industry specific course that engages and motivates the trainees rather than making them demoralised and reluctant attendees. This could be structured around four days of theory and one day of practical assessments to obtain the initial combined certificate with an annual two-day refresher. This would demonstrate a welcome bit of joined up thinking for a change.
“One is actually left wondering whether the interests of training organisations have actually become paramount to the financial wellbeing of their clients…
“Even if an integrated industry specific training course took longer to accomplish initially, it could still involve less time and expense, produce more rounded trainees and be easier to plan around while hopefully giving the trainees a little more status in the process.
“Why oh why is there such a fascination with making our lives harder and more complicated by constantly adding to the increasingly worrying burden of costs that are effectively beyond our control?”
PDP to fill ADR gap
Downstream Oil Distribution Forum (DODF) chair Brian Worrall, responded to: “The point about one consolidated training requirement is a good one but would require legislative change as ADR and its scope are defined in law and we cannot change the scope of ADR without going through a long process involving European as well as national consultation. The advice from the UK regulator, given the UK Government Better Regulation policy (which aims to reduce legislation) was that a voluntary scheme was the only way to introduce further petroleum tanker driver training.
“We’ve designed the scheme to fit as best we can with existing ADR and CPC requirements. One of our aims is to minimise duplication, saving time and expense. Therefore employers have the flexibility to run ADR and PDP training as one training package if that’s more convenient, or separately.
“However the fact remains that neither from a classroom and especially from a practical standpoint, as demonstrated by the DODF-developed Petroleum Tanker Training Standard, which has wide industry, trade body and union representation, the current ADR scope does not cover all that a petroleum tanker driver should both know and be able to demonstrate and this is the gap filled by PDP.”
Durapipe UK is expanding PLX, its specialist fuel conveyance pipework system, with the launch of PLX Blue, a plastic pipework system specifically designed to transport AdBlue/DEF in refuelling applications.
Specialist water separation services from Simon Storage
Simon Storage has successfully provided specialist storage and water separation services at its Immingham East Terminal on behalf of Hydrodec (UK) Ltd.
The contract with Hydrodec, which trades as the OSS Group in the UK, involved around 11,000 tonnes of saline water containing oil residues from shipping operations. Having already undergone an initial oil skimming process, the product was re-sampled by Simon on arrival at the terminal to ensure it satisfied the adequate specification for water separation and disposal via Simon’s on-site water treatment facilities.
Received by sea into the terminal, the “ship slops” were stored in a number of specially configured tanks totalling nearly 20,000m3. After a settling period to allow for natural in-tank separation of oil and water, the water was drawn off for disposal through Simon’s water treatment facilities. Oil residues left in the tank were collected by OSS, using vacuum tankers, for recycling at its Stourport-on-Severn processing plant.
Simon’s Immingham East Terminal is permitted to carry out water separation activities and recovery of separated hazardous and non-hazardous waste products from industry and commerce. Simon’s investment in its own water treatment plant at the terminal provides the capability for disposal of separated waste water derived from a wide range of permitted EWC (European Waste Catalogue) codes.
In the face of finite global oil supplies, the market for collecting and recycling waste oil from sources such as the maritime and automotive industries is growing, explains Rachel Lewin, marketing executive at Simon Storage. “This rapidly developing market is increasing requirements for suitable storage, treatment and disposal in the UK and mainland Europe,” she says.www.SimonStorage.com
Filtertechnik has launched Filtasorb 2 which, says the company, can hold twice the volume of water than the previous version and three times as much as its nearest competitor.
Nottingham-based Filtertechnik, specialists in filtration technology and clean-up systems for fuel, biodiesel, oil, and process fluids, claims that Filtasorb 2 gives “unrivalled performance” even at low flow rates of 200 litres per minute. The filter media has been developed by the company in the UK where it is also manufactured.
“In recent trials Filtasorb 2 set a new benchmark in the removal of water through absorption,” says Filtertechnik. “It’s highly effective, even in a single pass through the media, at low and high flow rates. Using diesel at a flow rate of 150 l/min Filtasorb 2 removed 6kg of free and absorbed water per minute bringing the water content to under 100ppm in a single pass from an initial level of over 44,000ppm.”
www.filtertechnik.co.uk
Latest figures show that oil continues to be the only primary heating fuel to have fallen in price over the past three years, making it the cheapest option for off gas grid homes.
According to the Sutherland Tables, a recognised source of data on comparative UK domestic heating prices, the current annual cost of using oil to heat a three bedroom home in Great Britain is now 10.1% lower than the average cost reported over the last three years.
The same average figures for homes using electricity and LPG – the other main heating fuels used by off gas grid homes – show an increase in heating costs of 23.9% and 2.2% respectively with LPG, used by some 170,000 off mains gas properties, remaining substantially more expensive than oil. The cost of heating a three bedroom home with a condensing boiler on LPG is £1,924 per annum – £734 more expensive than oil at £1,190 per annum.
According to a new report from DECC published last month, the downward trend in oil prices is set to continue over the next two years with wholesale prices forecast to fall 11.9% by 2016. In contrast, gas prices are predicted to rise by 14.5% over the same period.
Jeremy Hawksley, director general of OFTEC, said: “This is further positive news for oil households which have continued to benefit from relatively consistent heating costs over the past three years.”
The Oil Market Journal (OMJ) has expanded rapidly from its origins in 1999 when its aim was to provide large volume oil buyers with reliable Rotterdam spot market trading assessments. Today it offers a broad range of oil and foreign exchange prices, news and analysis via a plethora of innovative systems. Fuel Oil News readers are now invited to experience OMJ for themselves with a special FREE trial offer.
OMJ is managed by a team of experienced oil and technology professionals and has a proven track record in combining accurate market analysis with reliable intraday price assessments and cutting edge technologies. It is a Platts licensed distributor for UKI, a Dow Jones partner, and a licensed vendor of Financial Times forex prices and ICE Futures Europe oil prices.
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For a free trial of OMJ, go to: www.the-omj.com/fueloilnews
For details of other companies offering market intelligence and pricing information, please see the market intelligence feature on pages 23-24 in the October issue of Fuel Oil News.
Total launched its new international multimedia advertising campaign simultaneously in 21 countries at the beginning of October.
The campaign highlights Total’s operations in oil production, refining and marketing, as well as its role as a major player in natural gas – 50% of its output – and as the global number two in solar power, through its subsidiary SunPower.
“This large-scale campaign is the first of its kind in Total’s history. It reflects both our size and our ambitions,” explains Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, Total’s senior vice president, corporate communications.
Philippe Guys, managing director, Total Exploration and Production UK, commented: “Total is a leading global energy company. It needs a powerful brand over the long term to support the growth of its businesses. Our commitment is to continuously improve, working with and for our stakeholders. This isn’t just a promise, it is an everyday reality for Total’s 100,000 employees.”
The “Committed to Better Energy” campaign includes a television commercial filmed at Total sites around the world that will appear on nearly 80 different channels. In addition, more than 230 publications will carry advertisements featuring Total employees. Displays will be visible in 15 international airports, on the web and on social networks. In all, the campaign is targeted to reach a potential audience of more than 450 million people.
The UK retail business of Murco Petroleum Ltd – a subsidiary of Murphy Petroleum Ltd – has been acquired by institutional investors, Patron Capital Partners.
The business was acquired via Motor Fuel Group, the UK forecourt business owned by Patron in partnership with Alasdair Locke, for an undisclosed sum. It consists of a portfolio of 228 owned and operated forecourt sites, together with contracts to supply fuel to a further 226 sites owned and operated by third parties.
The acquisition represents Patron’s most significant investment to date in the UK forecourt retailing sector, following the acquisition of Motor Fuel Group in 2011, a portfolio of Shell stations in 2012 and a group of 53 freehold forecourts let on long leases to Murco in 2013.
As a result of the Murco acquisition, Motor Fuel Group is now the second-largest independent petrol filling station operator in the UK.
Stephen Green, senior partner at Patron Capital, commented: “This transaction is a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial and strongly performing business as part of our strategy to build Motor Fuel Group into one of the UK forecourt sector’s most significant operators. We would like to thank Murco, the Motor Fuel Group team and our respective professional teams for their support in executing this transaction so quickly.”
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