Police are investigating a whopper of a fuel theft from a service station in Burbank.
Police on Monday said the service station’s owner reported 4,000 gallons of diesel disappeared sometime before 5 a.m. on Friday.
Burbank police Detective Sam Anderson says when the gas station opened at that time, workers found the underground diesel tanks had been drained.
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Talks to avoid another strike by Shell tanker drivers agree a pay deal for 641 drivers contracted to distribute fuel for Shell are to continue on Tuesday.
The drivers, employed by Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, are to return to work from 6am today after a four-day strike - but without a pay agreement, the drivers’ union, Unite, has given warning of another four-day-stoppage from Friday.
A spokesman for Unite said: “We are still talking and I can say that we are not many miles apart.”
There are renewed fears that if the pay dispute drags on, other drivers contracted to work for other oil companies may also join in industrial action.
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Key milestones in the dollar price of crude oil from below $2 in 1970 to Monday’s record $139.89.
- 1970: The official price of Saudi crude oil is fixed at $1.80 per barrel.
- 1974: The price passes $10 after the first oil shock, sparked by the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
- 1979: Oil passes $20 as the Islamic revolution in Iran causes a second oil shock.
- 1980: The price tops $30 for the first time and $39 in early 1981 at the height of the war between Iran and Iraq.
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A man took petrol several times from the same Tauranga service station without paying before he was finally caught, a judge was told today.
Ford Wayne Tawhara, 24, unemployed, admitted five charges of theft when he appeared before Judge Thomas Ingram in Tauranga District Court.
He also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified.
Sergeant Sean Brennan said Tawhara helped himself to petrol costing various sums between $5.75 and $104.81 from a Fifteenth Avenue service station on March 23 and 26 and on April 18 and 22.
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Hospitals, hotels, malls, cinema halls and other commercial establishments will not be able to avail subsidised diesel anymore. They have to buy costlier premium (or branded) diesel. Public sector oil companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL plan to stop supply of subsidised diesel to commercial establishments.
Retail price of branded diesel, which is currently about Rs 2.25/litre higher than normal diesel, is not regulated by the government and its price could be substantially raised, depending on the demand.
Industry in the national capital region (NCR) alone is expected to lose Rs 500 crore per year on account of this. Situation in other places is even worse as the country is facing an acute power shortage and commercial establishments rely on diesel generators. Government officials justify oil companies’ move, stating that subsidised fuel is not meant for commercial establishments.
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Here’s a shocker: Electricity bills are heading up. Way up.
Utilities across the USA are raising power prices up to 29%, mostly to pay for soaring fuel costs, but also to build new plants and refurbish an aging power grid.
Even more dramatic rate increases are ahead. The mounting electric bills will further squeeze households struggling with spiraling gasoline prices.
“Consumers now face a tough reality on electricity,” says Mark Cooper of Consumer Federation of America.
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