WI TH THE OIL companies planning to reduce the octane value
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of dery later this year, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers' seminar on diesel fuels in London on June 14 is highly opportune. The results of taking "a wider cut of the barrel" are likely to be more noise and smoke at a time when the motor industry is doing its best to reduce both to meet
legislative requirements and to protect the environment.
It is the operator, however, who will carry the can. It is he against whom public resentment will be directed. He it is who stands to be prosecuted for excessive noise and smoke, with the possibility also of being called to a disciplinary hearing by the Licensing Authority.
Will he be compensated by a lower price for an inferior product? I am, of course, joking. In the words of Dr Ian Berwick, director-general of the UK Petroleum Industries' Association, a drop in price is "highly unlikely".
I suspect that the pound coin was introduced for the benefit specifically of the oil companies, for which a special double-headed variety is minted. Even when they sup with each other, they use a long spoon.