All Analysis articles – Page 11
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AnalysisService Centre: Jac Roper relates readers’ Coronavirus lockdown experiences
Turned upside down by Covid-19 Tom Dant, managing director of Lincolnshire-based Gill Marsh Forecourts, sent in the observation that everybody is finding that times are strange. He says: "For us our best- performing site is now our worst- performing site, and our worst site is now the best!" Fuel sales ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
These strange and tragic times have sadly continued during a month that has seen oil prices fall to a negative position (see Argus Media column page 8) and the PRA’s chairman Brian Madderson face down "sickening" charges of profiteering levelled at fuel retailers (see News page 5). On the positive ...
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Analysis
Our ’Legal Doctor’ Robert Botkai reports on the ’new normal’
For those who don’t already know me, I am a partner at Winckworth Sherwood solicitors. I head up the Commercial Real Estate and Licensing Team. My own practice areas are acquisitions and disposals of commercial premises and alcohol licensing. I have a special interest in petrol stations having secured one ...
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Analysis
Ray Blake: PRA technical director
The Petrol Retailers Association and Car Wash Association teams are now ensconced in their own homes but continuing to represent and advise their members. Members can now access the ’Coronavirus’ section on our website, which is continuously updated to reflect the latest advice on the operation of all aspects of ...
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Analysis
Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media
Chaotic oil markets continued through April culminating in US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) managing the unthinkable, dipping briefly into negative territory. Oil producers announced output cuts but failed to rebalance the supply/demand equation sufficiently to stem the losses in the market initiated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. ...
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Analysis
Highs and lows of NPD
I love trying a new product so was particularly pleased with my latest haul although as with everything in life, some things were better than others. I have written quite a lot about protein bars so thought I had better start trying them. Then I spied two new bars: KitKat ...
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Analysis
Protection is on hand
In just one week, more than 1,000 forecourts globally have taken up Devon-based GripHero’s offer of providing free hand-protection dispensers to protect their customers from the transmission of coronavirus at the fuel pump.GripHero is a hand-protection dispenser which sits on top of each hand pump on the forecourt, so that ...
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Analysis
Essential services
Extraordinary times we’re living in, with the whole world adjusting to much-changed circumstances, and not much of a clue as to when things will return to anything that resembles ’normal’. For the forecourt sector it’s been a period of peaks and troughs as the panic-buying hordes loaded their cars with ...
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Analysis
Essential service in virus panic
Fuel retailers have been identified by the government as one of the keys to keeping emergency personnel mobile, and making the transportation of vital supplies possible, during the coronavirus lockdown. But while the fuel retailing industry has been working flat out to ensure it can operate safely for customers and ...
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Analysis
Kevin Eastwood: executive director, BOSS
We have found ourselves in unchartered territory and everyone involved in the forecourt sector has been reflecting on what the public health crisis has meant for ourselves, our families and our businesses. Our highest priority during the crisis is the health and safety of our colleagues, customers, suppliers and the ...
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Analysis
Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media
A perfect storm hit oil prices in March. Just as global demand was being destroyed by the effects of the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia ramped up production to unprecedented levels in a price war, alienating Opec allies and non-Opec rivals alike. Oil prices halved in March as a result, with ...
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Analysis
James Lowman: chief executive, ACS
We are living in a time of uncertainty with the ongoing Covid-19 situation, which has affected each and every one of us. Convenience stores, especially those open all hours on petrol forecourts, act as lifelines to their customers, keeping communities connected and providing vital services to those who need them ...
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Analysis
Greggs on a ’roll’
I confess to not being a massive fan of Greggs products but obviously loads of people are, including Mr West who is very partial to a Greggs sausage roll or two. In the town where I live, there are always queues of people wanting a sausage roll or other Greggs ...
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Analysis
Powering into future mobility
Fuel cell electric vehicles will be the mainstay of vehicles going forward, according to Jon Hunt, manager of alternative fuels at Toyota. During an enthralling presentation at Forecourt Trader’s inaugural Summit at The Belfry Hotel in Sutton Coldfield last month, he told delegates that Toyota believes "pure electrification is not ...
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Analysis
Cloudy crystal ball
My crystal ball looking into the future of petrol retailing has scarcely been cloudier. The price of Brent Crude has been falling for some weeks down from a New Year high of US$70 to just US$50 at the start of March. This resulted from bearish forecasts about oil demand due ...
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Analysis
Chris Judge: analysis editor, Argus Media
The potential effects of the coronavirus on the global economy dominated discussion in oil markets in February, slicing more than 20% off oil prices since January 20, when it first came to light. Benchmark crude Ice Brent hovered just above $50/bl at the close of the month, a level last ...
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Analysis
Alexander Russell: consultant, Car Wash Association (CWA)
This year the CWA has already attended two round-table conferences on labour abuse, hosted by Matthew Taylor, the government’s interim director at the Office of Labour Market Enforcement (OLME). The first, more general, meeting focused on non-compliance with labour regulations. Taylor emphasised his particular interest in the proposed Single (labour ...
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Analysis
E10 on the horizon
The spectre of E10 is on the horizon again following this month’s announcement of a government consultation on its introduction (seems like there have been a few over the years!). Issues concerning E10 have been kicked into the long grass for a long time as the fuel retailing industry fretted ...
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Analysis
Moving the goalposts
The announcement that the government may bring forward the end of sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans to 2035, or even earlier, has alarmed many stakeholders involved in the automotive industry. The sector has been working towards a target date of 2040 since it was first set ...
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Analysis
Stephen Marcos Jones: director general, UKPIA
To paraphrase former US President Gerald Ford, our long national nightmare is over. Sort of. After three rollercoaster years, the Brexit wars are finally at an end. Britain is now firmly outside the club. If you thought it was safe, however, to assume politics will return to the humdrum potholes ...