BP quits bulk in the South-East • Oil giant BP
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is pulling the plug on its bulk fuel operations in the UK in a bid to cut costs—only months after it announced record profits.
Hauliers in the South-East have been warned by letter that BP will stop supplying fuel to its customers in the region "with immediate effect". This follows a "strategic review" in which BP's direct fuels business in the South-East was said to Q8 earlier this month.
The move is likely to affect hauliers throughout the Lill This side of BP's business is operated on a regional basis and negotiations are advancing in Scotland and the South-West.
A BP spokesman claims that the South-East direct fuels business suffered from heavy overheads and a costly infrastructure. Commenting on BP's record profits, he says: 'You don't make profits by hanging onto a business that loses money. It's better to have higher volume sales through fewer sites."
He adds that the big profits come from the discovery and recovery of oil rather than selling refined products. However, John Sibley of
Southampton-based Sibley Materials, which used to take 36,000 litres of BP diesel a month, says: "I find it appalling. We've been loyal to BP for 35 years. It's a disaster if a British company is pulling out of its home market... I think this will have a repercussion on prices."