Letters to the Editor

A Birmingham (USA) man is behind bars, accused of intentionally driving his car into a fuel tank at a west Birmingham gasoline station. Police charged 26-yearold Nathaniel Dorsey Jr. with third-degree assault. Police say Tuesday around 8:30 p.m., Dorsey's speeding car careered into one of the BP station's gas pumps, causing a huge explosion, minor injuries and total destruction of a fuel tank. Officials say quick thinking by a Birmingham police officer probably made the difference between life and death. "He actually came back in and pushed the stop button for pumps to shut down stops gas from coming out," said BP manager Lynn Williams. Police say Dorsey said he was depressed and drove into the tank in an effort to kill himself. Crews spent Thursday cleaning and repairing the gas pump at the Ensley BP gas station. All gas pumps remained shut down Thursday, costing the business a lot of money. "It hurt us real bad," said Williams. "I've made $100 and I've been here since 6 o'clock this morning. It's hurt us tremendously." The gas pumps were turned back on Thursday night. "We'll test and make sure there are no leaks, no seepage around the impact valve; everything sealed up," said David Hollis, of A&P Equipment. Hollis said it cost about $19,000 to get all the pumps going and install the new gas pump.

Oil giants race to quench China’s thirst for petrol

Motor car sales in China topped one million last year for the first time. At the current rate of growth, the country will be the third-largest car market in the world by 2008. This looks like good news for Dr. Gary Dirks, BP's chief executive for China, and Shell's North East Asian chairman Tan Ek Kia, both veterans of the fight to open the doors into China's energy industry. A booming consumer economy has created explosive growth for cars in country which relied on bicycles and bullock carts less than a decade ago.

Foreign motor manufacturers, led by Volkswagen, and the Japanese giants are now racing to build factories in China to meet the demand from the new middle classes. Just as cut-throat is going to be the fight to see who fills them up. BP and Shell are poised for battle with local operators as they compete for the growing thirst for petrol.

Since the retail sector started to open up after China joined the World Trade Organisation, the pair moved fast. Both have joined with government-controlled oil giants, PetroChina and Sinopec, to run up to 2,000 petrol stations in some of China's most bustling provinces. Exxon and other energy groups are also moving in on the sector. When they start cutting ribbons on new stations will depend on government consent, but observers expect the thumbs-up to be given soon. It looks like a good start but there are already 90,000 gas stations around China, most State-owned, over-manned and doing poor business. This, warns consultants McKinsey, means that selling petrol will be a tough game, with wafer-thin margins. The big opportunity for some, it suggests, is not in pumping petrol, but in boosting the retail business inside the stations.

While this is a strategy with which Western energy groups have long been familiar, the consultant reckons that for multinationals, the better route would be to become specialist petrol suppliers, leaving the hawking of sales items to the locals. While petrol stations might be the most visible evidence of Western oil giant's growing presence in China, it is small beans compared to the massive energy projects which have finally been won by BP and Shell. Cracking these big developments has made both BP's and Shell's experts in negotiating the labyrinthine processes of Beijing's government. It took more than 15 years of talks and planning before Shell signed a $4.3 billion (Euro 4.6 billion) deal with China National Offshore Oil Corporation last November to build a petrochemical plant in bustling Guangdong province, north of Hong Kong. It will be the largest petrochemical complex in China, with estimated revenues of $1.7 billion a year when it comes on stream in 2005.

Getting this far has been hard going, admitted Tan, who inherited the project five years ago. "It started off as a much bigger concept, including a lot of retail projects, but it changed and changed and eventually the retail business was dropped," he said. Negotiations on Shell's other major project were more quickly concluded, but Tan admits, much more daunting. This is a Euro 4.9 billion gas pipeline which will stretch 3,900 kilometres from the rugged Western deserts to the booming industrial complex surrounding Shanghai.

PetroChina, the No 2 oil giant, is the lead Chinese partner with a 50 percent stake while Shell joins, ExxonMobil, OAO Gazprom Hong Kong & China Gas and Stroytransgaz with a 45 percent slice, and Sinopec has the remaining 5 percent. BP's Dirks has also had to cope with frustrations and disappointments in China. Earlier this year a deal to supply natural gas from its Indonesian fields fell through at the last moment. That still left BP with plans to invest up to $4 billion in China's energy industry. It is now the biggest supplier of LNG storage facilities in the country. Unlike Shell, BP has its own oil-fields in Southern China, but Dirks rules out exploration as a big future money-spinner. "We see China as a growth market, but as a market for products rather than a resource bed," he said. How big? Neither Dirks nor Tan are into the prediction business. "We are not making big bold predictions about how it is going to fit into the global portfolio in long-term in material terms. Going for absolute numbers gets you into deep water," said Dirks. "It will be important but we have to recognise that we still have to make a big investment."

Man charged with driving car into gas station pump - damages cost $19,000 to repair

Scotland, Aberdeen, Jan 9 2003. “You bloody Fuel - Sherriff hits out at ‘Idiot’ for petrol station blaze stunt”

A joker who risked blowing up a petrol station was branded an idiot by a sheriff yesterday. John Callander joked he wanted to give his pal a heart attack before the incident. But yesterday, he was ordered to do 300 hours of community service.

Callander, 29, lit a match and threw it towards a car as his friend filled it with fuel at a Safeway petrol station in Aberdeen. But petrol pumping out the fuel nozzle caught fire and staff had to shut down the pumps.

Yesterday, Sheriff Douglas Cusine told the printer he was "nothing short of an idiot". Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard Callander smelled of alcohol but wasn't drunk at the time. Ian Hingston, prosecuting, said Callander and a friend both got out of the car at the filling station. Mr Hingston added: "The accused was seen to take a box of matches from his pocket and said to his friend, `Do you want to have a heart attack?' "Then he lit the match and threw it towards the petrol filling cap on the car." Mr Hingston said the friend removed the nozzle from the cap "but the match had ignited the fuel coming from the nozzle.” When the friend dropped the nozzle to the ground, it continued to burn.

A supervisor turned off the pumps and ran on to the forecourt with a fire extinguisher but found the fire had already gone out. Mr Hingston added: "When a manager asked the men what had happened, the accused said the pump had caught fire on its own."

Callander, of North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, owned up when police arrived. And he admitted culpably and recklessly setting fire to petrol with utter disregard for the safety of persons using the petrol station and to the danger of staff and customers in court. Les Green, defending, said Callander had accidentally struck the match. He added: "He thought it would be funny to give his friend a scare, it went beyond his intentions. He has said it is the most stupid thing he has ever done. This man is not really a dangerous criminal, he was stupid in the extreme that day."

Damage in Oil Tank Raid Ireland, Co Leitrim, Jan 17 2003 Customs seize fuel tanker in smuggling investigation

Thieves who raided a diesel oil tank in Albrighton caused £10,000 worth of damage after thousands of gallons of the fuel leaked onto surrounding land. The theft happened at around 5am on Christmas Eve when an alarm went off at the Albrighton Business Park, Newport Road. A spokesman from Shrewsbury police said: "Nothing was found untoward at the time, but since then, fuel has been discovered leaking from a damaged valve on the tank." Around 1,000 gallons of diesel oil worth £450 leaked into the ground and nearby watercourse causing damage.

Leaded Petrol Being Phased Out Malta, Dec 12 2002

A Shell petrol station in North London recently had a major incident occur when a woman driver drove across three lanes of traffic across a petrol station and came to a halt when the car crashed into the above ground LPG tank used to supply automotive fuel.

The entire contents of the tank were dumped onto the forecourt and the emergency services attended. The station was closed while the woman was removed from the vehicle and taken to hospital where she later died.

Fireman attending the incident suffered some injuries and a full investigation into the incident is being undertaken by Shell, London Fire Brigade and the HSE. It is hoped that a full report into the incident and any recommendations will be published in a future edition of The Bulletin.

Vehicles switching from leaded to lead replacement petrol, which will be introduced in the new year, require no modification apart from an adjustment to the ignition timing, Enemalta chairman Robert Ghirlando said. Lead replacement petrol will be sold at the same price as leaded petrol - three cents more per litre than unleaded petrol - and is being supplied in the same way. Petrol stations would therefore not be undergoing any changes, Prof. Ghirlando said. The changeover from leaded to lead replacement petrol will take place between the last weeks of December and the first weeks of January. LRP consists of unleaded petrol plus an additive based on manganese. Although it fulfils the same function as leaded petrol, it is not as harmful to the environment.

Customs officers in Co Leitrim today seized a tanker containing around 35,000 litres of heating fuel smuggled across the border from the North. The fuel, which is much cheaper in Northern Ireland, had been transported for sale in the Republic without being declared or any excise duty paid. Officers said the potential loss of revenue on the fuel was approximately €10,000. The seizure near Manorhamilton was a result of a routine surveillance operation by Customs & Excise officers into the movement of Northern Ireland fuels into the Republic. No arrests were made but investigations were being carried out into the find. The fuel was being tested to establish whether it had been mixed with agricultural diesel in order to create motor fuel.

Fireworks have been in the news again with people complaining about their noise; how they are used all the year round; the number of injuries they cause; and the problem that the hooligan element cause with them.

The government is looking at new legislation Living Places - Cleaner; Safer; Greener and to curb noisy activity that will include fireworks and other noisemaking devices such as whistles, rattles and drums.

Into this arena the HSE are looking at new regulations concerning the manufacture and storage of explosives (fireworks) to replace the Explosives Act 1875. Europe is directing us to replace our current firework standards with new European ones.

Storing Fireworks

New legislation is proposed where it is intended that Mode A registered premises holding between 200250kg net of shop good (HT4) fireworks will have to maintain a 5-metre separation distance from third party buildings and 2.5 metres from footpaths and roads. Anticipating problems for existing premises in complying with this requirement, a sample of Mode A premises storing HT4 fireworks was selected from across 39 local authorities. A study sample was deliberately focused towards the type of premises expected to hold between 200-250 kg of fireworks and to distributors rather than shops or supermarkets.

The Midlands Branch of the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Birmingham Area Fire Protection Association held a seminar in February to debate these issues.

Speakers from the HSE, British Standards, a Member of Parliament, the Firework Industry, and the Retailers attended to put forward their case.

We hope to report back on these discussions in future issues.

Regulatory impact

According to the study's data, some registered premises will have a problem with the proposed separation distances and the owners consider this will adversely affect their operations. The significance of this regulatory impact in the context of the proposed legislation therefore needs to be carefully evaluated. Analysis of impact of proposed changes to separation distances for Mode A registered premises holding HT4 fireworks, Walker, G., Fairburn, J. and others, HSE and Staffordshire University, HSE Books, 2002. (Research report 041), ISBN 0717621588, price £5.00. is also available on the HSE website at:

www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm www.safetynews.co.uk/news.htm#Storing fireworks

Your phone could start fireball at the pumps - warning on using mobiles while filling up with petrol

An Ulster petrol station owner has urged mobile phone users to take care to ensure they escape being turned into a human fireball when filling up their car. Finlay Robinson, a partner at Cullybackey Road Service Station in Ballymena, who is a committee member of the Petrol Retailers' Association, says the group has given out safety leaflets on the issue urging people to switch off phones at pumps.

Mr Robinson said if a mobile rings there is a slight possibility that it could ignite petrol vapour in the vicinity of petrol pumps - much the same way as warnings are issued regarding smoking on forecourts. He said the chances of a flash fireball engulfing the mobile phone user were "one in a million" and that people using petrol pumps should not be unduly alarmed but that petrol station owners had a duty to advise people on forecourts after a number of mobile phone fireball incidents in the UK. "There was a case where a car and a petrol pump were destroyed, when a phone was left on the boot lid and rang during refuelling and another case when a person received burns to his face when he answered a call. "On another occasion a mobile phone in a person's pocket rang when they were near petrol pumps and injuries were caused to the thigh and groin areas."

Mr Robinson said that as well as leaflets, notices warning of the dangers of mobiles have been put up beside the pumps at his filling station. He said staff constantly advise people not to use their mobile phones when they see them talking on them at their Cullybackey Road facility. Mr Robinson said that people using mobiles inside their shop often step outside to the forecourt to answer the phones, a practice they advised against. He said some people seemed annoyed when they are told of the dangers but that the vast majority took the safety message onboard. Mr Robinson said there was little chance of a huge fireball being created by the full underground tank blowing up because of a mobile phone. "Petrol is actually very hard to ignite. It is the vapour that can be sparked causing a brief flash fire," he added.