The new Essar brand –  breaking into the UK’s retail market Essar Oil UK entered the UK retail market in November 2015; last month the refiner opened its third site at Middleton in Lancashire.

For full details or to book a place at Transport Manager Northern Ireland call the FTA Member Service Centre on 03717 11 22 22 The FTA’s Transport Manager seminar takes place at Titanic Belfast next week.

Reducing production of lower margin products such as fuel oil and naphtha, Essar’s Stanlow refinery has increased the yield of high margin products such as gasoline and middle distillates Essar Oil (UK), which owns and operates the Stanlow Refinery, announced its best ever performance for the first nine months of a financial year, for the year ending March 31st 2016. Since acquiring Stanlow in 2011, Essar has successfully reconfigured the refinery to operate as a single train highly optimised site.  The refinery has increased the yield of high margin products such as gasoline and middle distillates and also reduced production of lower margin products such as fuel oil and naphtha. Robust operational performance in YTD FY16 has delivered a number of notable landmarks including the highest ever monthly amount of residue being upgraded via Europe’s largest Cat Cracker, highest monthly throughput in the HDS2 upgrading unit and record daily production of high value propylene. In the nine months to December 31st, 2015, Stanlow, which produces about 15% of the UK’s road transport fuel demand, processed 6.77 MMT of crude, a 7% increase on the previous year’s 6.35 MMT.

Boris Johnson is encouraging “everyone harbouring ancient boiler artefacts” to sign up to his boiler cashback scheme now Mayor of London Boris Johnson launched a new boiler scrappage scheme for Greater London residents last week – and yes, it does include oil-fired boilers! Around 12,700 households in Greater London currently use oil for heating and an estimated 60% of these still have a standard efficiency boilers in need of replacement. The 8-week scheme will provide a £400 cashback subsidy to upgrade a standard 70% efficiency oil or gas boiler to an A-rated 890% efficiency condensing model. Boris Johnson is encouraging “everyone harbouring ancient boiler artefacts” to sign up to his boiler cashback scheme now and benefit from a brand new cost effective heating system. “This scorching scheme will help 6,500 London homes become more energy efficient and cut annual bills,” said Boris Whilst the number of oil-using homes that may benefit from the scheme is quite small, OFTEC welcomed the initiative saying: “It vindicates our long-championed view that a boiler scrappage scheme would be the most cost effective way to improve the UK’s domestic energy efficiency and substantially reduce carbon emissions.” “Our country urgently needs carbon reduction schemes that don’t cost the earth and actually work,” said OFTEC director general Jeremy Hawksley. “Boiler scrappage is an ideal way to help UK households to reduce carbon emissions from heating in a practical and affordable way.” For more information – visit www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/improving-quality/london-boiler-cashback-scheme

New vehicles for Certas Energy which is ‘taking the opportunity to introduce the best models available for our  business needs’ Twenty-one new Scania day cab tractor units fitted with the latest in-cab technology and tracking devices joined the Certas Energy fleet last month. The new units – built by LAG, Lakeland and Magyar with Touchstar in cab technology – are replacing older units in use at Cardiff, Ellesmere Port, Immingham, Manchester, Plymouth, Southampton, St Clears (Wales) and Thames Riverside “When it comes to replacing tankers, it’s our opportunity to ensure we introduce the best models available for our businesses needs while ensuring operational efficiency,” said head of fleet Glen Tyrie. The tractor units benefit from a lower GVW – a reduction by some 700kg – due to the use of a day-style cab.  This allows the tanker to accommodate up to 36,500 litres, an increase of between 800 to 1,000 litres on a full load compared to the previous trucks. With Touchstar in cab technology customers have effective monitoring of each delivery and increased flow of data and information  and the technology reduces in-house paperwork and also provides a useful platform for (certain) customers to view collection details and obtain delivery reports. Certas Energy will complete the ISO50001 Energy management systems accreditation process in 2016.  This standard recognises companies that implement and maintain systems for improving energy management, by applying a systematic approach to continually improve energy performance of the business, while reducing energy use and costs.www.certasenergy.co.uk