FuelClub Discount

Dozens of lorry drivers in France brought rush hour traffic to a standstill in Paris’ financial district on Tuesday in the latest strike against the rising cost of fuel.

It is what the French call “Operation Snail” - the latest of its kind in recent months as fishermen, farmers, lorry and taxi drivers try to pressure the government into helping them face the oil crisis.

Lorry drivers are demanding cheaper fuel for professional use and want the price to be fixed for a full 12 months from the start of the year. Gerard Enel of the European Lorry Drivers Union said: “We want to be heard - the situation is getting out of control. Soon we won’t be able to drive our lorries anymore. We will keep trying to negotiate to get the price of fuel down because it is becoming totally impossible for us to manage.”
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France called on the G7 on Tuesday to press oil-producing nations to boost their output in a bid to bring down prices that have reached record highs and thrown a spanner in oil-fired economies.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said she would put the request to her counterparts of the Group of Seven club of rich countries to seek a common front with Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

“We cannot forever be in a market system in which the price is permanently on the rise, to the benefit of producers, who are building up major oil revenues,” Lagarde told France 2 television.
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Airline executives forecast bankruptcies, job cuts and increased ticket prices yesterday as Air France-KLM plunged the industry into further gloom with a warning that its profits would fall by a third under the weight of rising fuel costs.

Shares in the Franco-Dutch carrier were marked down 10 per cent to ?16.74 amid fears that its fuel bill would be ?5.7 billion (?4.5 billion) this year, up from ?4.6 billion in 2007.

The warning from the world’s biggest airline by revenue provoked fresh turbulence in a sector already unsettled by Wednesday’s announcement from American Airlines that it would charge passengers to check in luggage in an effort to generate additional revenue. With Qantas, the Australian flag carrier, putting up the cost of international flights by 4 per cent and Japan Airlines also set to raise its fuel surcharge, executives predicted fewer passengers and a bleak outlook for the industry.

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French oil group Total said it is to merge its petroleum product operations in Portugal with those of Spanish partner Cia Espanola de Petroleos SA (Cepsa).
No financial terms were disclosed.
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