FuelClub Discount

Even as oil prices ascended to new highs of more than $124 a barrel this week, many oil and gas industry executives say they expect the price to fall significantly by year’s end, a new survey shows.

Fifty-five percent of 372 petroleum industry executives surveyed by KPMG LLP said they think the price of a barrel of crude will drop below $100 by the end of the year. Twenty-one percent of respondents predicted a barrel of oil will end the year between $101 and $110, while 15 percent forecast the year-end price to be between $111 and $120 a barrel.

Nine percent said they expect the price to close the year where it’s been this week — above $120 a barrel.
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Reliance Industries’ decision to shut down about two-thirds of its petrol pumps in the country due to continued losses today came up in the Rajya Sabha with some members demanding action against the private firm.

Raising a supplementary on an original question pertaining to capital investment by oil companies in foreign countries, Digvijay Singh (JD-U) said youths were being driven to suicide after closure of petrol pumps by the firm.

Without naming Reliance, he sought to know what action the Government proposed to take against the firm for “depriving” the youths, who had invested Rs two to three crore in the petrol pumps, of their livelihood.
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Haulage company staff are taking their lorries to London to protest against “the rocketing price of diesel”.

The protest will begin at the Medway Services on the M2 in Kent and will end with a rally in Park Lane in central London.

Organisers of the protest hope that hundreds of people will take part.

A delegation from the protest will hand in a symbolic coffin to the Houses of Parliament. The delegation will be received by Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for the Kent constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

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The UN is to halt food handouts for up to 800,000 Palestinians from today because of a severe fuel shortage in Gaza brought on by an Israeli economic blockade.

John Ging, the director of operations in Gaza for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees, said there had been a “totally inadequate” supply of fuel from Israel to Gaza for 10 months until it was finally halted two weeks ago. “The devastating humanitarian impact is entirely predictable,” he said.
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Your ginger-ale doesn’t come in a glass anymore on most US Airways flights. On Delta you’ll find yourself in a thinner, lighter seat. If you fly JetBlue cross-country, you’ll get a dainty bag of 100-calorie crisps in place of the original snack box of cookies, crackers and spreadable cheese.

With jet fuel prices so high, airlines have no choice but to scour their planes for ways to lighten the load. There’s no room for even the smallest bits of dead weight, from redundant wing lights to extra wires in the walls. Manufacturers also are using lighter materials in plane construction.

‘‘The pressure is immense’’ to cut weight, said John Heimlich, chief economist for the Air Transport Association of America, an industry trade group. ‘‘Every penny more per gallon adds $195 million to the industry’s expenses per year.

‘‘You simply cannot make all of that up with fare increases.’’

Jet fuel, which the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration tracked at $3.17 per gallon in New York on Tuesday, has doubled since the beginning of 2007. It outpaced labor as the biggest airline expense three years ago. As of September 2007, fuel made up 27 percent of operating expenses for U.S. airlines, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The industry has struggled to keep up. Carriers have increased fares, cut capacity, parked their gas guzzler planes, charged customers to check a second bag, trimmed staff and pushed as many passengers as possible to automated kiosks.
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