The Bulletin Magazine - June 2012

Journal of the Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration

The Bulletin

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June 2012

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Editor’s Report

7

Business Manager’s Report

7

Letters to the Editor

11

New APEA Members

11

News

15

Press Releases

34

Articles APEA Live 2012 Conference, Exhibition and Awards Dinner

40

Interview with Jean Fincken, Petroleum Inspector at London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority

46

ExploZero® – The Ultimate Explosion Protection System for your Filling Station

50

Ask the Experts

52

What is Bulk Fuel Theft and What Solutions are Available?

56

Petrol Station Numbers Continue to Drop

58

Stage II Vapour Recovery Enhancement

59

Branches Branch reports

63

Training 2012 course dates and booking details Training course photographs

69 70

NB. The technical content is not an official endorsement by or on behalf of the APEA and are entirely the views of the author's

Brian Baker Editor

Brian Baker & Associates

Fire and Petroleum Safety Services

52 Milton Grove Bletchley

Milton Keynes MK3 5BH

Tel: +44 (0) 1908 377127

Mobile: +44 (0) 7541 039 686 email: Bakerb4@sky.com Jamie Thompson

Publishing Chairman 70 Wangford Road Reydon

Southwold

CONTENTS AND EDITORIAL

Chairman’s Report

Suffolk

IP18 6NX

Tel/fax: +44 (0) 1502 722999 Mobile: +44 (0) 7770 625851 email:

jamie@jamiethompson.org.uk Jane Mardell

Business Manager PO Box 106

Saffron Walden

Essex CB11 3XT

United Kingdom

Tel/fax: +44 (0) 845 603 5507

Mobile: +44 (0) 7815 055514 email: admin@apea.org.uk

Front Cover - A petrol station closed in Llandrindod, Powys, Wales Published by the Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration

A company Limited by Guarantee registered in England No. 2261600Opinions expressed in this Journal are not necessarily the views of the Association.

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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Welcome to this edition of the Bulletin journal, once again you will find a great selection of articles and stories that will interest and maybe even educate you, also as the editor is always saying, why not submit an article for publication?

We will always welcome contributions on anything that you think would be of interest to members, we would love to have more input so sharpen your pencils and get your thinking caps on!

Whilst writing this we are in the middle of a threatened tanker drivers strike. This has caused great consternation with the fuel buying public, with many garages being inundated with drivers trying to get fuel even before any strike action had been called. This, as a regulator, is a nightmare; we are being inundated with calls regarding the limits that people can store legally at their home address and the types of containers they can use. Petrol is a commodity that people use daily and the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt springs to mind.

“This petrol stuff isn’t dangerous” is an attitude that is unfortunately present in today’s society, not helped by confusion over what you can actually legally store.

Looking at the internet and the range of containers for sale on reputable websites that say they are suitable for “fuel” when they could not legally be used for storing petrol, is quite worrying. The Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade has called for the website owners to be more responsible and put some more information as to their suitability and legality, as the public could be mislead into thinking that they are suitable.

The fire and explosion that occurred in Immingham in North East Lincolnshire a few years ago which resulted in two fatalities, was the consequence of using unsuitable containers to store petrol and I would have hoped brought this issue to light, and the subsequent publicity might have raised awareness, but it seems to no avail. So what can you legally store “domestically”? The limit for storage at your private dwelling is 30 litres maximum, in a shed/garage or in the open air, this being two ten litre metal containers and two plastic five litre containers. All containers 4

must be of an approved type and appropriately marked; never store petrol in your house. If it is in a building attached to your house then a minimum of 30 minutes fire resisting separation is required, if stored in the open air then it must be six metres from any building, highway or public footpath. All this information is available on many websites and will no doubt be called upon if the proposed industrial action commences.

Another consequence of the proposed industrial action is that the military are to supply drivers for delivery of petrol to filling stations.

The training of the personnel is ongoing now and it needs to be addressed by all the regulators out there. I know that one major oil company has indicated to all petroleum licensing authorities that during any strike action they will not be operating unassisted deliveries and that a fully trained competent staff member will be on hand to assist the driver with the delivery procedure.

Hopefully all oil companies will follow suit and all the deliveries during this time will be made without any incident.

2012 is moving on apace and the Olympics are getting closer and closer. Most Olympic venues are now to have their own fuel storage, ranging from just a few litres to bulk storage at the main venues; all this will be above ground but the positioning of the tanks is still to be decided. I am hoping that once all this is ironed out then I will be able to produce an article for publication within the journal.

Moving on to the encroaching conference exhibition and awards dinner, this year once again being held at the excellent Ricoh Arena, Coventry, November the 8th is the date that you need to have in your diary. This year’s event will once again be the must attend for the industry, you should consider booking your place at the event as a priority, also have you considered entering for an award? Either your company or an individual can be entered and the process is really quite easy, the categories for the awards are on page 42 and I urge people to get busy and enter. Past winners of the awards have commented on how proud they are

of receiving them and there use as a valuable advertising tool has benefitted there business immensely. Once again the day is being organised by f2f and I am sure that it will surpass last year’s phenomenally successful event.

Membership of the Association is still at a high level. We are pleased with the renewal rate for 2012 even with the slight increase in membership fees - the Council believe that this gives extremely good value for money.

The APEA is of course “Industry and Regulators working together” and all should have a good browse of the APEA website to see what we have to offer in the terms of advice and specialist knowledge.

I personally welcome any queries of a legal or technical nature from any member and have been corresponding for a considerable time with members who have attended training courses that I have been involved in.

May I take this opportunity to thank a few people without whom this association would not be as successful as it is. Firstly Jane for all the work that she puts in, the Council for giving up a lot of free time to contribute, to all branch officers for the same reason and last but not least, you, the members, who are the mainstay of the association and I hope that you all benefit from membership in your day to day working lives.

Lastly, on a personal note, 2012 is a landmark year for me; I am getting married in September to the beautiful Liz, many thanks for all the goodwill messages that I have received and I am sure that the wedding will be a day to remember.

Brian Humm APEA Chairman

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

At the time of going to press so to speak, we are receiving early indications that we may be in for a difficult time through the late spring and early summer since the union that serves the UK Tanker Drivers have balloted their members for strike action against what they see as a reduction in safe working conditions.

This sounds alarm bells ringing from the events of September 2000 when we saw huge protests against the UK’s fuel prices that saw the virtual shut down of the country within 4 days.

I, like the majority of people, want to avoid such a catastrophe and although I firmly believe this journal is non-political, it does make for uncomfortable reading that the fuel supplies on our forecourts can run out so quickly, thereby demonstrating just how frail our supply distribution lines can be.

I recall those dark days back in 2000 when just about all sorts of containers were attempted to be used for the storage of petrol and diesel. I remember being present at a forecourt in my former area of Milton Keynes where I witnessed a male customer entering the site with a giant flower pot with a bung in the bottom asking if staff could fill it up please!

To make matters worse, at the time of preparing this issue, statements are being made in the present crisis by senior politicians to encourage people to stock pile fuel in their homes, sheds and garages which flies completely in the face of legislation in the UK let alone the increased risk of fire and contamination!

Certainly all 207 Petroleum Licensing Authorities in the UK will not have been impressed with those

statements, let alone those that work on our Attended Self Service Forecourts that diligently prevent unauthorised containers and surplus amounts of fuel being sold in any sales transaction.

It brings home that by and large the public are ignorant of the risk that is ever present in our filling stations. I could actually prove back in 2000 that panic buying took place that reduced normal supplies from 7 days worth to 4 days.

Let us hope disaster on all sides is averted but one thing I must say, that whoever wins the argument, safety must prevail so that injury or worse does not happen.

There has been much activity and interest in the Association’s training service with bespoke courses taking place in locations as diverse as Belfast, Lincoln, Cavan in the Republic of Ireland, Powys in Wales and if you could call it overseas – namely the Isle of Wight.

This training is designed to local requirements and the activity in Wales saw an experiment in the subject of Leak Incident Investigation which at present is being formulated into a new one day course.

Many people believe that the petroleum officer simply inspects sites and occasionally waves a big stick if breaches of the legislation are found during such an inspection.

That is only one aspect of the role.

It is often overlooked that Petroleum Licensing Authorities are frequently called upon to deal with “Smells of Petrol” in the neighbourhood, illicit domestic storage of petrol and diesel presenting both fire and pollution risk. Add to that the requirement under UK Petrol Licensing Conditions the need to report a leak AND a suspected leak,

The last few months have been very busy with membership renewals, the Bulletin and producing the 2013 Yearbook which is now at the printers. Preparations are also under way for APEA 2012 Live and information can be found on page 40.

I will be on holiday for a week each in June and July, so should you require to contact anyone from the APEA there will be a list of contact details for the various APEA committee members on the home

page of the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk. The office phone will also be manned in my absence.

2013 Yearbook Thanks to all of you that registered online for the 2013 Yearbook and also those of you who booked advertising; the artwork is now at the printers and the Yearbooks will be distributed on 1st October.

If you have not received your copy by the end of October please let me know and I will chase up your

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

a picture emerges that the chances of a leak investigation are quite high. More so if ageing installations are not replaced.

You will see in another part of this issue that work is well underway for our annual conference, exhibition and awards dinner called APEA Live 2012. The size this annual event has grown to is huge. This is thanks to the mentor behind APEA Live 2012, Bob Conlin, who has made gigantic strides to make it what it is today. So think about your diary and make a note of the date!

The Olympics are upon the UK this year and that means a massive investment and of course fuel plays a part in that and I hope to try and secure an article from the capital as the event itself appears to touch every walk of life.

So we are heading for our British summer of hose pipe bans, droughts, potential fuel shortages but never mind, as I write this the sun is shining, my garden is ablaze with beautiful yellow daffodil bulbs, birds are singing out there and by “smelling the flowers” life is good – and the cricket season is starting!

What more could a chap want?

Until next time Brian

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EDITOR’S REOPRT/BUSINESS MANAGER’S REPORT

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BUSINESS MANAGER’S REPORT

delivery. We only have a limited amount of spare copies so you need to contact me by the end of October if you have not received your copy.

We will be sending all Yearbooks by Royal Mail recorded delivery and by courier so that we can follow up any non deliveries.

Pricing as follows: APEA Member Hard back £70 pdf £70 plus vat

2012 AGM, Conference, Exhibition and Awards Dinner Following the success of APEA 2011 we will be repeating the format for APEA 2012.

It brings together equipment suppliers, service providers, oil companies, independent retailers, supermarkets and regulators for a day of conference debate, new technology and product display, networking and industry recognition.

APEA 2012 takes place on 8th November at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

The event takes place in a dedicated conference and function centre, boasting top class facilities.

Anyone wishing to book a place at the Conference, Exhibition or Awards Dinner should go to the link on the home page of the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk.

If you would like to enter any of the awards you can do this online from the home page of the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk or please contact me for an entry form at admin@apea.org.uk. Please specify which award you wish to enter so that the appropriate form can be emailed to you. Details about the awards can be found on page 42.

I will be managing the AGM part of the event and information and nomination forms will be posted to all members with the September issue of the Bulletin.

Postage is free for orders to the UK and Europe up to a value of £500.00.

For orders over this value and for deliveries to countries outside the UK and Europe, the postage will be calculated when the order is placed.

There are also discounts available for bulk purchases of the hard copy version which will be calculated with your order as follows:

Publications - 3rd Edition of the Blue Book The 3rd Edition of the Guidance for Design, Construction, Modification, Maintenance and Decommissioning of Filling Stations - 'Blue Book' (Revised June 2011) is available to purchase from the APEA website.

It is available in hard back and also as a pdf download.

If you wish to purchase the guide please go to the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk and click on the ‘Publications’ page. You can select to pay by credit/debit card or by invoice.

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Non APEA Member Hard back £140 Pdf £140 plus vat

5 - 9 copies = 10% 10 - 49 copies = 20% 50+ copies = 30% To benefit from the APEA member discount you will need to log on to the website before purchasing. If you do not know your log on details you can click on the 'Member log in' icon on the top right of the page and request your username and password or you can contact me at admin@apea.org.uk.

We also publish the Code of Practice for Ground floor, multi storey and underground car parks. This can be downloaded directly from the APEA website and is available to members at £11.00.

New Members There have been 48 new members joining during January, February and March and details can be found on page 11.

Bulletin - articles/news items Thank you to all of you that have contributed to this issue of The Bulletin.

Please email me any news items, press releases or articles for the September 2012 issue at admin@apea.org.uk and I will pass them on to our Editor for approval.

The deadline for final copy is 1st October for the next issue.

We are always pleased to receive contributions from our members and it ensures that the Bulletin remains an interesting and informative read.

Bulletin - 2012 Advertising If you book in all four issues of the Bulletin you receive a 25% discount

and we are able to offer discounts for those of you that wish to book for more than one issue but less than four issues.

If you would like to book advertising in the Bulletin for 2012/2013, please email me your requirements to admin@apea.org.uk or call me on 0845 603 5507.

Training Thanks to all of you that have booked on the APEA training courses.

The 2012 dates are detailed on page 69 of this issue of the Bulletin and are also on the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk where you can book online or download a booking form.

I can also arrange bespoke courses for companies, which enables members to receive training at a discounted rate and at a time and location suitable to them.

If you are interested in hosting a bespoke course for your company please do not hesitate to contact me for a quote.

We can offer discounted rates for these courses if you are able to provide a venue and catering.

You can book courses online from the Training page on the APEA website or you can download a booking form from our website training page; just click on the course you are interested in and the course details and online form are displayed.

Also anyone booking a training course that is not an APEA member will automatically receive “Individual” membership to the APEA until 31st December 2012.

Website Please make use of the website where you can book training courses, purchase publications, look up contact details, technical and general information.

If you wish to contribute anything to the site please email it to me for review.

General Assistance Finally if any of you need any assistance with general or technical matters, please do not hesitate to contact me at admin@apea.org.uk or on 0845 603 5507 and I will endeavour to help.

Jane

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Dear Editor I read with interest your recent article “Australia, New South Wales, Sydney. Hundreds of petrol stations leaking fuel” (APEA March 2012, The Bulletin).

While the article was informative, it unfortunately did not accurately portray the reality of efforts to effectively manage and control underground petroleum storage systems in New South Wales, or in the rest of Australia or Southeast Asia for that matter.

Australian Standard AS 4987, the EPA Victoria Guideline 888 and various other standards specifically dictate that you can't “just stick a tank in the ground in Australia”, as the article suggests.

Most underground petroleum storage systems in Australia are monitored by highly sophisticated U.S. EPA-

accredited Wet stock management or SIRA technology, such as that utilised by global leader Leighton O'Brien since 1995. Documented failure rates for these monitored sites are between zero and 0.75 percent pa, a statistic which does not support the statement that hundreds of stations are leaking fuel.

In addition, the elimination of steel tanks with double walled fibreglass tanks and double lines has reduced leakage to virtually zero at these sites. Annual failure rates with unmonitored steel systems can be as high 7% pa, with steel lines being the highest risk of all and accounting for up to 95% of all failures.

When a system in Australia is detected to fail by a suspected leak, any leak is detected in a timely fashion with a minimum of actual

release. For more than a decade, the Australian oil industry has some of the most stringent environmental standards in the world. That is why editorial features about hundreds of tanks leaking in Australia are somewhat misleading. While a site may be contaminated, that is no reason to conclude that it may also be leaking at the present time.

Contamination could have been an historical event or from surface spills rather than underground leaks.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. I would be happy to talk with you anytime about the subject!

Kind regards Reed Leighton CEO Leighton O’Brien

Detailed below are new members that have recently joined the APEA during January, February and March.

Brett Barton Think Tanks The Barn Grimesgate Diseworth Derbyshire DE74 2QD

Andrew Thomas Contacta Systems Ltd 11 Tower View Kingshill Westmalling Kent ME19 4UY

January Jesmond Camilleri Renergy Limited 24, Main Street Balzan BZN1259 Malta

Adnan Khan Shell International Petroleum Company Shell Technology Centre Thornton Room 77, Bdg 62 P.O. Box 1 Chester Cheshire CH1 3SH

John Saunders South Eastern Electrical Plc South Eastern House 62-70 Fowler Road Hainault Essex IG6 3UT David Groom Elec-Tech Electrical Services Ltd Unit 12a Collers Way Ind Estate Reepham Norwich Norfolk NR10 4SW Andrew Leaper 10 Meadowlands Scholes Cleckheaton West Yorkshire BD19 6HB David Honeyman Forecourt & Fuel Roadshows PO Box 152 Gravesend Kent DA12 1QG Philip Shepherd West Berkshire Council Council Offices Market Street Newbury, Berkshire RG14 5LD

Alexandros Amvazas Agiou Demetriou 71 Thessaloniki 54633 Greece Wayne Austin Wayne Austin Electrical Ltd Ballypierce Kildavin Carlow Ireland Christopher Swinscoe Bristol City Council Safer Bristol, Brunel House St Georges Road Bristol BS1 5UY Michelle Williams Bristol City Council Pollution Control Team, Brunel House St Georges Road Bristol BS1 5UY

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Michael Weir MOD Fuel & Gas Safety Regulator MOD Abbey Wood Filton Bristol BS34 8JH Andrew Norman Imtech G&H Ltd Hooton Street Carlton Road Nottingham Notts NG3 5GL Muthusamy Thangavel ADNOC Distribution Maintenance Planning Engineer MTSD Musaffah LPG Depot Abu Dhabi 4188 United Arab Emirates February Paul Devine South Lanarkshire Council Environmental Services 1st Floor Atholl House Churchill Avenue East Kilbride South Lanarkshire G74 1LU Justin Skipper Midas Structural Ltd Unit 9, Loddon Business Centre 2B High Street, Loddon Norwich, Norfolk NR14 6AH

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR/NEW APEA MEMBERS

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James Hennigan Meson Electrical Services Limited 6 Elmfield Business Park Lotherton Way Garforth Leeds West Yorkshire LS25 2JY Iqbal Hussain Moosa Waleed Ahmed Al Maimani Services LLC P.O.Box-1770 Ruwi 112 Oman John Baldwin 52 Hillside Avenue Bromley Cross Bolton Lancashire BL7 9NJ Darren Westerman Darnel Electrical Unit 10C Enterprise Park Ledston Luck Leeds West Yorkshire LS25 7BF

NEW APEA MEMBERS

Paul Grant Totalis Solution Grove Street East Belfast Co Antrim BT5 5GH Paul Taylor K P Taylor Electrical Contractors 11 Kingswood Kidsgrove Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire ST7 4UX Jon French Woodsmoke Ltd 46 Sheffield Road Creswell Worksop Derbshire S80 4HW Ceri Jones Brookvale Homes (S.W) Ltd Motivo Alvington Yeovil Somerset BA20 2FG Rob Glavin Merebrook Consulting 1 Leonard Place Westerham Road Keston Kent BR2 6HQ Richard Ezard E M Bayliss & Partners Ltd Suite 3 Georgian Mews 24A Bird Street Lichfield Staffordshire WS13 6PR 12

Vernon Hunt E M Bayliss & Partners Ltd Suite 3 Georgian Mews 24A Bird Street Lichfield Staffordshire WS13 6PR

Vincent Maye Vincent Maye Electrical Installations 62 Rowan Drive Castlebar Co Mayo Ireland

Scott Morley E M Bayliss & Partners Ltd Suite 3 Georgian Mews 24A Bird Street Lichfield Staffordshire WS13 6PR

Andrew Kelleher Tweedie Evans Consulting Ltd The Old Chapel 35A Southover Wells Somerset BA5 1UH

Phil Davies Gardner Denver Ltd Waterbrook Road Alton Hampshire GU34 2UD Asad Mulla Mullahomes 11 Kyverdale Road London N16 7AB Lucy Kirk Trading Standards Medway Council, Gun Wharf Dock Road Chatham Kent ME4 4TR Clare Shorter Trading Standards Services Medway Council, Gun Wharf Dock Road Chatham Kent ME4 4TR Linda Knight Permex Ltd Riverside House Plumpton Road Hoddesdon Hertfordshire EN11 0PA Tony Harris MGB Engineering Ltd Unit D Eagle Road Plympton Plymouth Devon PL7 5JY Kevin Airey 25 Beechurst Road Cheadle Hulme Stockport Cheshire SK8 5QG March Margaret McClelland Fireprotect ni 10 Killians Park Whitecross Co. Armagh BT60 2SR

Bronagh McGarrity Irwin Electrical Services Ltd Unit 4 Diviny Drive Carn Industrial Estate Portadown Armagh BT63 5WE Mark Brazier Barbour Consulting Limited Bay Tree House Sunny Avenue Crawley Down West Sussex RH10 4JL Robert Phillips Hays Cottage Reynoldston Gower Swansea SA3 1AQ Thomas Wilkinson John Wilkinson & Son (Builders) Ltd Carrfield Works Park Lane, Preesall Poulton-le-Fylde Lancashire FY6 0LU Johnny Blagogee Strategic Energies Limited Box MD 662 Madina Accra Ghana Nick Saunders J W Hinchliffe (Tanks) Ltd Weaver Street Leeds West Yorkshire LS4 2AU Matt Freeman Gilbarco Veeder-Root 22 Hawthorn Crescent Bewdley Worcs DY12 2JE Mr Peter Connolly 21 Elizabeth Gaskell Court Albert Street Knutsford Cheshire WA16 6JA

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

UK, Essex. Petrol tanker cab arson in Thurrock linked to earlier fire

Police believe two incidents of arson in Essex, one of which involved three petrol tanker cabs, are connected. Six vans and three trailers were set alight in Weston Avenue, Thurrock, at 1.45am. Three cabs connected to petrol tankers were later set on fire in nearby Motherwell Lane at about 10pm.

Fire crews were able to prevent the fire spreading to the tankers in what police described as a “staggeringly thoughtless” act. Noone was injured in either incident.

The exact causes of both are being investigated and police are checking CCTV footage of the area. Detective Chief Inspector Simon Anslow, of Essex Police, said: “At the moment we're approaching them as a linked investigation. “It seems too coincidental to have two offences in such close proximity within 20 hours of each other.”

He added: “The danger they caused by setting (the cabs) on fire is just immense. It's staggeringly thoughtless. “The tankers were parked up immediately behind and there were other vehicles parked up adjacently. “Those tankers could have exploded and would have undoubtedly set the ones adjacent to them off and we could have had a major explosion.”

UK, Essex. Coryton refinery resumed activity after bankruptcy closure... but will that avoid steep price hikes on the forecourt

Petrol retailers and motoring groups believe prices will be driven up by speculators taking advantage of the three days of disruption on the wholesale fuel markets. There was queuing at some forecourts as the shutdown led to fears of fuel shortages and price hikes.

Essex refinery’s administrators PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) blamed the three-day hold up of

deliveries on a legal and contractual wrangle over supplies.

Payment for Coryton’s fuel have traditionally been made through the refinery’s Swiss parent company Petroplus which went bust.

Receivers say they have spent the time since then trying to “unscramble the system” and put new contracts in place with customers, including hundreds of BP and Texaco forecourts. The receivers said that after discussions with suppliers and customers they had started shipments of refined oil products with immediate effect, easing fears over fuel shortages.

The site, which supplies 20 per cent of fuel in London and the South East, halted sales after its Swiss owner Petroplus placed the refinery into administration, prompting fears of up to 1,000 job losses.

BP is understood to be the refinery’s biggest customer but previously said it had not suffered from any immediate supply issues.

The formerly BP-owned refinery had been operating as usual otherwise, but with no deliveries of petrol or other products, including bitumen, leaving the site.

While deliveries have started again, PwC was unable to confirm whether the shipments were running at full capacity. Coryton staff have been told to expect some job losses although administrators say they are confident of finding a buyer.

A ship was due to dock to unload 600,000 barrels of crude oil, said union officials.

PwC, which is also dealing with the administration of two other locations - an oil storage site in Teesside and a research and development site in Swansea - said Petroplus had suffered as a result of “low refining margins and high restructuring costs”.

On average across the UK, diesel rose to 142.32p (from 142.21p) per litre and is now within a fraction of 1p of a new record. Petrol rose to 134.03 (from 133.89p) per litre the previous day, the AA reported.

Petrol retailers predict diesel prices in particular are set to soar by up to 3p to a new record £1.45 a litre. That would see a £100 fill-up for “Mondeo Man” in his – or her- family saloon with a 70-litre tank. Record fuel

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

prices were set in May last year when diesel hit 143.04p and petrol 137.43p. This time last year, petrol was 128.51p – around 5p per litre less than today and diesel 133.15p per litre – nearly 10p cheaper.

The refining market has become tougher as the economic downturn in Europe has hit demand for transport fuels and competition has grown from the refineries in Asia.

Retailers warned that instability in Iran and threats to blockade key oil routes in the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz, coupled with the strong dollar, is also storing up trouble.

AA president Edmund King said: “There is no doubt the loss of supplies from a major UK refinery, plus the problems in Iran, is going to give the speculators a field day.

“When they speculate, the only way is up as far as fuel prices are concerned. Motorists are going to have to get used to seeing prices creeping up.”

There are seven other refineries in the UK - at South Killingholme and Lindsey, both in north Lincolnshire; Fawley, near Southampton; Grangemouth, near Falkirk; Stanlow in Cheshire; and Milford Haven and Pembroke, both in Pembrokeshire.

The other main supplier for the South East and London is the Exxon Mobil refinery at Fawley.

A meeting was expected involving the administrators, the Government and unions as part of efforts to secure the refinery's future.

UK, Lola Racing of Huntingdon unveil an electric powered racing car

The new car can go as fast as a Formula 1 racing car over 200mph and is the fastest electric car in the world. It is thought that the car will run for about 20 minutes at full speed but battery changing during pit stops could be just as quick as taking on fuel as happened in Formula One but some people will find it difficult to accept the electric motor racing cars without the noise of the engine and the smell of petrol.

Back in July 2011, the two companies, Lola Group and 15

NEWS

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Drayson Racing Technologies announced the partnership to build an electric-powered LMP (Le Mans Prototype) racing car and this is the fruition of that partnership.

The racing car was unveiled in January in Birmingham at which Martin Birrane, Lola Group Chairman, said “This innovative new project will evidence several new technologies with a variety of wellknown technical suppliers, to show that zero carbon, clean racing can be fast and exciting, whilst offering a stimulating engineering challenge.”

Project pioneer Lord Drayson added “Electric racing represents a considerable new business opportunity for motor-sport and underlines the growing commercial potential of green racing and technology.

Electric-powered racing is really taking off with the launch of the new FIA Formula E world championship for electric racing cars planned for 2013 and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of the push for innovation at such an exciting time for the sport and industry. Indeed, the Lola B12/69EV racing car that we are unveiling today showcases advances such as inductive charging, composite battery power, moveable aerodynamics and electrical regenerative damping, making it one of the most innovative cleantech motor-sport projects in the world. With over 850 horsepower, it aims to be the fastest electricpowered race car to lap a circuit.”

So will we see the electric LolaDrayson racing at Le Mans and a similar car in Formula One? It is more likely that a special electric ‘Formula E’ will be created and the governing body the FIA have talked of such a formula in the past. Time will tell but for sure local based company Lola will be at the forefront of this technology.

UK, Scotland, Aberdeen. Man tried to start fire at petrol station

Craig Forbes endangered life and property by playing with naked flames at a petrol station forecourt, a court heard.

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A man admitted putting people's lives in danger by trying to start a fire at a petrol station on Boxing Day. Craig Forbes repeatedly lit a cigarette lighter while standing within the Torq Service Station in Aberdeen, with complete disregard for the potential consequences.

The 25-year-old was also caught using his mobile phone in the forecourt of the garage on Great Northern Road on December 26, last year. Forbes, of Aberdeen, admitted behaving in a culpable and reckless manner which put lives and property in danger by deliberately and repeatedly trying to start a fire within a petrol station. Sentence was deferred for a report from the community mental health team, at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Defence solicitor Mike Monro told the court that his client had been seen by a doctor shortly after the offence, but no psychiatric assessment had been made.

UK, Morrisons to lead on fuel price savings

Morrisons introduced a new deal giving motorists an industry-beating 15 pence off a litre of petrol or diesel. The 'Fuel Britannia' deal was available to customers who spent £60 in store and trumps previous deals from supermarket rivals.

The move came during a period where fuel prices moved up across the UK with diesel in particular hitting a new average high across all retailers. The increases have affected families returning to do the 'school-run' after the half-term holiday break.

In March oil prices also hit their highest levels since June last year due to rising confidence about the state of the global economy.

Richard Lancaster, Morrisons Marketing Director, said: “We know how tough it is for our customers. This deal helped them in tough economic times. Nobody has ever knocked this much off a litre of fuel before. It will make a real difference for our customers.”

Customers who took part in the ‘Fuel Britannia’ deal and filled up with a typical tank of £50 of fuel received savings of well over £5.

Customers who were also part of the

Morrisons Miles scheme collected these points on top of the ‘Fuel Britannia’ promotion, giving them even further savings over the same period.

‘Fuel Britannia’ vouchers were issued from 23rd February to March 4th. Customers who spent £60 or more in stores received a voucher that allowed them to claim the discount until March 11th at Morrisons petrol stations.

UK, Illingworth.

Morrsions first european site that is lit by 100% LED lighting and major breakthrough in petrol stations

Morrisons Illingworth petrol forecourt is the first site to unveil its new LED lighting approach. The Philips LED lighting solution adopted

by Morrisons shows the versatility which LEDs offer for internal and external applications. Over and above that it has allowed Morrisons to make substantial energy efficient gains without compromise to performance. Here we take a closer look at this unique project.

Listening to the needs of supermarket retailer, Morrisons, the new Philips LED lighting design encompasses the entire site from petrol canopy and carwash right through to signage and forecourt kiosk including chiller cabinets.

Morrisons can now enjoy impressive energy savings of approximately 64% across the installation. This site will be the first one in Europe that will be lit 100% with LEDs and is a major breakthrough in petrol filling station (PFS) lighting.

Old style 250W metal halide fittings have been replaced with IP65 rated Philips Mini 300 luminaires using high performance LEDs, complete with movement detection for maximum energy savings. With operating margins under constant pressure in the petrol station market, the exceptional efficiency offered by Philips’ robust, low maintenance lighting solution makes a significant contribution to keeping lifetime costs down. Of equal importance is

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motoring accessories and seasonal goods accent lighting was achieved utilizing adjustable 10 W Spot LEDs. The chiller cabinets at the Morrisons flagship store have been manufactured by George Barker (An EPTA refrigeration company).

These cabinets use the best in class Philips LED chiller canopy solution which is the world’s first LED canopy light to deliver up to 40% energy savings over fluorescent tubes. The LED chiller canopy solution is a maintenance free solution with a long life time of over 50k hours and an uncompromised light distribution across the shelves. “The unique styling of the LED canopy solution enhances the visual appeal of the merchandise on display,” commented Atul Wahi , Philips UK Business Development Manager – LED Lighting who worked with George Barker to see through the integration into their cabinets.

As Ian Russell, Philips UK Retail Business Development Manager for the project sums up, “We are delighted that Morrisons took the decision to implement the Philips LED lighting system for the complete site and hope that other retailers take the lead set by Morrisons.”

UK, Fire crews called to petrol leak at Wrexham Morrisons

Police and fire services were called to the petrol station at Morrisons in Wrexham after a petrol leak was reported at one of the pumps in February.

being hosed down as a precaution.

A spokeswoman for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were called at 10.34am to reports of an LPG leak at Morrisons petrol station. The area was cordoned off with petrol coming from a pump.

“An engineer attended to sort the problem and crews covered it with spray as a precaution. The incident was isolated with a residual amount of gas in the pump.”

UK, Scotland, South Lanarkshire. Bus crashes into Hamilton petrol station

No-one was badly hurt but nearby roads were closed as a precaution.

A bus driver suffered minor injuries when his bus crashed into a petrol station in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. Three women working at the Jet petrol station, on Townhead Road, were all unharmed.

There were no passengers on board the bus when the accident happened at about 14:45 in the evening.

Police closed a number of roads in the area as a precaution as officers from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue made the scene safe. The driver was taken to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride but his injuries were not serious.

Scotland, Aberdeenshire. Illicit fuel plants dismantled

Wrexham.com follower Phil Sumner reported the incident on Twitter at around 11am, he said: “just back from Morrisons, petrol station closed, fire and police in attendance.”

As we attended the scene shortly after police and fire crews were still on hand with one of the pumps

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Two illicit bio-diesel production plants have been dismantled by HM Revenue & Customs following an operation in Peterhead. HMRC, assisted by the Grampian Police, raided two storage facilities near Peterhead town centre. They uncovered the plants recently.

During the searches officers seized nearly 4,000 litres of illicit fuel, 750

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that gains achieved in energy efficiency are not at the expense of good illumination. As Ian Jagger, Group Electrical Services & Environmental Engineering Manager, for Morrisons explains, “We wanted to ensure that within the fuel bay, the petrol pumps are clearly illuminated. Everything is visible, pumps, people, columns and cars.

We were extremely impressed with the new LED scheme which has shown that illumination levels are almost the same as those achieved using conventional light sources.”

A similar lighting treatment, this time using symmetric Mini 300 luminaires, has been used within the car wash area. The electrical installation to both the petrol station and car wash was undertaken by Pitts Wilson Electrical Limited. Since completing their first electrical installation at Keighley in 1968, Morrisons and Pitts Wilson have continued their working relationship with Pitts Wilson carrying the full electrical design and installation to the complete Illingworth Supermarket Development.

The signage requirements on site were realized using the revolutionary new Philips Poster Box Module 300 Series (patent pending) in all of the forecourt canopy, kiosk, car wash and gantry illuminated signs.

Aluminium profiles wash light across the sign and make optimal use of the light by re-cycling it in the box.

The result is a uniform light without the stripes usually associated with fluorescent tubes. David Williamson, Philips UK LED Sign and Display Business Development Manager worked closely on the design of the petrol forecourt signage with Morrisons preferred signage partner Butterfield Signs. As Williamson comments “Whilst maintaining the strong Morrisons brand image, Philips together with Butterfield Signs have managed to reduce energy consumption by over 75% and due to the long service life of the product, significantly reduced ongoing signage maintenance costs.”

At Illingworth, the ambient lighting within the kiosk and stockroom was provided by the latest LED 19 W Luxspace downlights. To highlight selected merchandise such as

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litres of methanol, 200 litres of kerosene, pumps, equipment and business records. Making bio diesel is a potentially hazardous process that should only be carried out in controlled conditions by people with the proper training and experience.

At the very least a poorly made product could seriously damage a vehicle engine.

Graeme Anderson, Assistant HMRC Specialist Director, Investigations, said: “Illegal biodiesel sites and those involved are creating a cheap and unregulated supply that honest producers cannot compete with. They rob taxpayers of millions each year in unpaid duty and VAT, funds that could be used for essential services in our communities.”

Before buying cheap fuel motorists need to consider the real costs although you may think you are getting a bargain, you really have no idea what you are paying for.

Buying illicit fuel not only funds crime, but it also supports and encourages these dangerous activities within our communities.

Two men were questioned by HMRC and investigations are continuing.

UK, Northern Ireland, Co Armagh, Silverbridge. Illicit diesel seized in Co Armagh

A man was arrested following the discovery of more than 20,000 litres of illicit diesel at a laundering plant in Co Armagh. The laundering plant was capable of producing over 5.2 million litres of illicit fuel a year, evading over £3million in duty.

Revenue and Customs, along with PSNI officers, made the discovery in the Silverbridge area.

A quantity of bleaching earth, used during the laundering process, a fuel tanker, pumps, equipment and seven tonnes of toxic waste were seized during the operation.

The detained man was questioned

by Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers. He was released on bail and investigations are continuing.

John Whiting, Assistant Director Criminal Investigation, HMRC said: 20

“Every illegal laundering operation has significant environmental and safety issues. These operations typically generate tonnes of toxic waste, which is often dumped indiscriminately in the countryside.”

He added that not only is the tax payer and ratepayer missing out on the tax, which is going into “the pockets of the criminals”, they are also paying the substantial clean up and disposal costs. Buying illicit fuel not only funds crime but supports and encourages these dangerous activities within our communities.

The only winners are the criminals, who are profiting at the expense of honest businesses and endangering the future viability of our legitimate fuel retail service.

Uganda, Kampala.

Fire guts Kobil service station

Fire gutted the Kobil Fuel service station along Bombo Road, Kampala recently. The fire that started at about 1am was as a result of a speeding motor vehicle, registration number UAH 803V Toyota Primo that lost control and collided into a fuel pump.

The highly flammable pump and shade structures did not stand a chance. The driver is believed to have been speed driving under the influence of alcohol. “The vehicle was coming from Kampala Road towards Bombo Road at about 1am at a terrible speed and when the driver saw a bus that was parked alongside the road, on trying to avoid a collision he instead drove into the station ending up crashing into the fuel pump,” said Paul Ochom, an eye witness working as a security guard at the station.

He said that the five occupants of the vehicle, two men and three women, fled after the collision.

Ochom also explained that the impact was so fast because the station caught fire immediately after the collision. Police were alerted and arrived at the scene to put out the fire. The station manager Kobil Bombo Road, Patrick Ssekamate said that he didn’t know exactly what happened though he had received a phone call at 1: 30am by one Richard Omuyo a pump

attendant. He added that no one had been injured among his staff.

USA, MD, Silver Spring. Trapped worker rescued from underground tank

A man working in a 10-thousand gallon underground tank became injured and couldn't get out of the tank was rescued, according to the Montgomery County Fire Dept.

Rescue units received a report of someone trapped below ground in the 1200 block of East-West Highway.

The units discovered a man who had been working in an underground tank near the Blair East Apartments. He had somehow become injured, and although his injuries were not life-threatening, they prevented his getting out of the tank.

After taking readings and doing other safety tests, two Montgomery County Fire/Rescue personnel went into the tank. The rescuers were able to get the injured worker into a harness. He was removed from the tank and taken to an area hospital with non life threatening injuries. No information was available about the nature of his injuries, how he was injured or what he was doing in the tank. The name of the company he worked for was also not known .

Canada, Plans to build Canada’s first public electric charging network announced

The locations for the first 90 charging stations with 240V technology for plug-in electrical vehicles have been announced and will be available to the public this spring. The founding partners of ‘The Electric Circuit’ — St-Hubert Restaurants, RONA, METRO, the Agence Métropolitaine de Transport (AMT) and Hydro-Québec — recently made the announcement at the Montreal International Auto Show and said an additional 30 stations will be added by the summer.

There are two main objectives: to

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Australia, New South Wales, Sydney. Petrol switch to leave 750,000 motorists out of pocket

Up to 750,000 drivers in NSW will be forced to pay at least $150 more for petrol each year when the government bans regular unleaded petrol in July. NSW is the only government in Australia to ban regular unleaded petrol and replace it with fuel blended with 10 per cent ethanol. But modelling by the University of Queensland and the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce obtained by the Heralds shows 25 per cent of NSW cars cannot use ethanol fuel and will be forced to use premium fuel

instead. With support from the Liberal and National parties, the former Labour government passed legislation in 2007 banning unleaded fuel, arguing that ethanolblended fuel was better for the environment.

The Coalition supported the laws despite the fact that among those bearing the extra cost would be nearly 100,000 NSW motorists who drive cars made before 1986, many of whom live in rural Australia.

Almost all motorcyclists in NSW and drivers of several popular makes and models, such as all Ford Lasers and many Mazdas made before 2005, will also have to pay more as their vehicles cannot run on ethanolblended petrol.

Anton le Rutte, of the Boat Owners Association of NSW, said most boats would also be unable to use ethanol fuel because it absorbed moisture and disintegrated and had a risk of starting fires in older boats.

At an average extra cost of 10¢ a litre for premium fuel, the average motorist will be paying $150 more a year. For a car with a 60-litre fuel tank, filling up once a week, it will cost an extra $300 a year.

The study was prepared for the ethanol industry. It used data from 2009 to project that, as of last year, only 75 per cent of 3 million passenger vehicles and motorbikes in NSW would be able to run on ethanol-blended fuel. The extra cost to be borne by motorists was scarcely mentioned in the parliamentary debate on the legislation.

Tony Kelly, then the minister for rural affairs, said motorists who had to switch to premium unleaded would ''enjoy a higher-octane, cleaner-burning fuel''.

Andrew Stoner, the Deputy Premier, supported the legislation, despite airing industry concerns that some motorists would have to pay 12¢ a litre more for ''nothing other than government policy''.

The Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, did not respond to questions about whether he was concerned about the extra costs motorists would face or whether he had considered policies to offset them. Kathleen Cash, a graphic designer from Rosebery, was totally unaware that

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regular unleaded petrol was being phased out and that she would have to pay more for premium fuel.

Ms Cash is thinking about trading in her 1998 Daewoo, which cannot run on ethanol-blended fuel, but her son looks likely to inherit it. ''I don't really understand why it's going to cost more for older cars, '' she said. ''I think it's really unfair that people who have older cars have to pay more''.

Germany, Extreme cold stalls German diesel engines

The unusually low temperatures sweeping across Europe rendered high numbers of diesel-powered vehicles in Germany immobile, the country’s largest auto association ADAC said. Parts of Germany saw temperatures drop to -28°C (-18°F), well below the point at which diesel begins to crystalize.

Although petrol stations in the country are legally obligated to offer a special weather-resistant form of the fuel from mid-November to late February, most forms available in Germany are only designed to withstand temperatures above -23°C (-8°F). “The lack of adequate winter-proof diesel is a problem,” Izabela Grzywacz of ADAC’s Berlin office said, explaining that German law only requires fueling stations to offer ‘winter diesel’ made for a minimum of -20°C (-4°F) in the cold months.

Unlike petrol, which remains a liquid until about -45°C (-49°F), standard diesel fuel can begin to crystalize around 0° (32°F). Although diesel-vehicle owners in Austria and Scandinavia usually have access to ’polar fuel’, which withstands temperatures as low as -40°C (-40°F), this special type of the fuel is scarce in Germany.

“We are pushing for the government to lower the legal threshold to -30 degrees (-22F),” Grzywacz said. “Not only is it clear that these kinds of temperatures return every few years, but cars with diesel engines are only one problem; transport trucks also run on diesel and are often parked outdoors.”

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provide accessible recharging to the greatest number of drivers and to offer a simple method of payment. The charging service for the Electric Circuit will cost $2.50 per use, or $25 for 10 charges, regardless of the duration of the re-charging.

“The locations announced mark an important step in the development of this network and its roll-out in the greater Montréal and Québec areas,” said Pierre-Luc Desgagné, Senior Director, Strategic Planning at Hydro-Québec, on behalf of the founding partners.

“The automotive industry is rapidly evolving and we want to be ready to meet our customers’ needs by providing easy access to practical services and clean fuel.”

Hydro-Québec will conduct tests this winter on the first certified quickcharge station at over 400-V. It will be installed in Boucherville this spring and tested on a daily basis in collaboration with the local StHubert restaurant. With HydroQuébec’s oversight, The Electric Circuit will then deploy quickcharge stations along Québec’s major roads over the course of the year.

Launched on June 16, 2011, The Electric Circuit is Québec and Canada’s first public charging network for plug-in electric vehicles.

Charging station users will also have access to a 24-hour telephone help line run by CAA Québec.

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vehicle incidents have occurred in eastern and high-altitude regions of the country, which have borne the brunt of a heavy Siberian front.

According to a country’s trade daily, hundreds of vehicles have been affected by the deep freeze, with assistance services such as those offered by ADAC unable to provide little more than a tow to a warm garage.

The German Automobile Association also advises drivers against some common mistakes including mixing petrol with diesel fuel, which could cause engine damage, and trying to manually defrost a fuel tank, which can quickly become a fire hazard.

Instead experts say the safest and most reliable option is to have the vehicle towed indoors where the tank can thaw out naturally and paraffin crystals in the diesel can return to liquid form. A fuel filter change is also recommended.

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USA, Artist Robert Guthrie transforms a regular Mid-City petrol station into a premium residence

The thick steel column that supports the staircase leading to artist Robert Guthrie's bedroom once lifted cars so mechanics could get a look at their chassis. It's just one of the remnants of the vintage filling station that Guthrie preserved as he converted the 1918 Mid-City structure into a studio and home.

The original gas pumps outside Robert Guthrie's Mid-City home are gone, but the large portico that protected bygone customers from the rain now serves as a deep, front patio cover.

He also kept the pocked concrete floor where the mechanics once dropped tools and spilled oil, and the pair of old garage doors that until sometime in the 1960s admitted cars for servicing.

Standing in one corner of the front room is a rust-speckled 1930s clockfaced gas pump that Guthrie bought online. The original pumps are long gone - Guthrie installed a bank of concrete planters where they once stood - but the large 24

portico that protected bygone customers from the rain is still there, serving as a deep, front patio cover.

Eventually, the building went on the market, and in 2003, Guthrie was able to make the neighbourhood landmark his own. The station's five gasoline storage tanks had been dug up years ago, he learned. Still, the property had to be tested for lingering toxic chemicals and given a clean bill of health before his loan was approved.

“A lot of old gas stations got torn down,” Guthrie said, “sometimes for environmental reasons. “I was lucky to get one.”

At the start of the renovation, Guthrie decided to perforate the flat roof with four peaked skylights.

The weight of the skylight structures made it necessary to add steel reinforcement to the timber trusses that held up the roof. He also removed a dividing wall, opening the interior into an airy, unobstructed, two-story living space.

The portico was one of the first major necessary repair jobs. Long before he bought the building, Guthrie said, the large stucco overhang with the pitched tile border had begun to sag with age.

Then a van crashed into the support column, bringing the structure down. The portico had been hoisted back into place by a previous owner, Guthrie said, but it still required substantial rebuilding. “It was in terrible shape,” he said.

Guthrie said he completely updated the plumbing and wiring and, for first time in the old building's history, he added central heating and air conditioning. The big, electricity-gobbling ventilation fan is still in place up near the ceiling, but now it's just part of the industrial-chic decor.

He removed an existing loft and replaced it with a raised bedroom, complete with small bathroom, accessible by a custom-welded steel staircase and illuminated with several small clerestory windows.

Though Guthrie bought the the property for $120,000, renovations added up to significantly more, he said. “I put way too much money into it from the beginning,” he said of his labour

of love.

Guthrie said he was lucky to have secured a flood-insurance policy just two months before Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures that swamped the neighbourhood in August 2005. The water ruined Sheetrock walls, tools and construction supplies stored on the floor, but he was compensated for the damage. The chalky water mark can still be seen at calf level on the garage doors.

It took about a year after the flood for Guthrie to get his dream studiohome project back on track.

He had evacuated to Lafayette, where he stayed for months until he was able to return to the city.

Meanwhile, the contractor he relied on to complete the filling station renovation was suddenly awash in time-consuming emergency work.

Then, not long after, the same contractor was sidelined for months by a serious motorcycle accident.

“There were times it seemed like it wasn't going to happen,” he said of the on-again, off-again project.

Along the line, Guthrie became philosophical about delays. The extra time, he said, allowed him to make the kind of detail decisions that have transformed the project into what he calls “his best work of art.” Not that he's eager to go through it again. “I'll never do another renovation, ever,” he said.

“It was too much grief.”

Mexico, Stolen fuel costs Pemex thousands

A Pemex official said that it was the first time that stolen fuel has been detected being sold through a petrol station. In the past, primitive illicit fueling stations with improvised tanks had been discovered in fields, vacant lots and industrial buildings, presumably to supply fuel to private fleets.

In a raid over the weekend in the northern city of Monterrey, the federal Attorney General's Office said it found about 12,690 gallons (48,000 litres) of stolen petrol at the station, worth about $77,000. The station came under suspicion because it had not had a legitimate delivery of petrol in some time.

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Benitez Lucho toured the Pemex plant where the spill originated and said a primitive cut had been made in a valve head, a hole knocked in a containment wall and a thick hose laid to the edge of the Coatzacoalcos river, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. In early January, about 63,400 gallons (240,000 litres) of crude spilled from the valve plant, blackening the river's shores and threatening wildlife.

“There was no doubt that it was deliberate,” Benitez Lucho said. “I think they spilled the crude so that the companies that do clean-up and remediation work ... could get quick, fast-track contracts,” he said.

“They are million-dollar companies that charge huge amounts for clean-up and remediation, and I think that is the motive.”

The office of the Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection said the case was still under investigation.

Taiwan, Taipei.

Pollution exceeds limits at 32 petrol stations, EPA says

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) have said an investigation into groundwater and soil pollution at 400 petrol stations in Taiwan revealed that contamination at 32 sites exceeded standard limits. The EPA launched a nationwide investigation into the pollution of groundwater and soil at more than 2,700 petrol stations across the country in 2001 and examinations at 2,250 sites had already been completed before the end of last year, while the whole project is scheduled to be completed before the end of this year.

The EPA said 190 polluted sites have been discovered so far, about 8.5 percent of all the petrol stations nationwide. The EPA’s Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fund Management Board yesterday said that in the past two years, the EPA had completed investigations at 400 petrol stations that were established between 2003 and 2006, and found that 32 sites were

polluted.

Among the 32 sites, 12 were located in the north, 14 in the centre of the country, five in the south and one in the east. The EPA said seven were petrol stations next to freeways and that pollution at three sites in Taipei, Greater Taichung and Nantou County greatly exceeded the limits and that they would be listed for on-site pollution remediation.

The soil pollution was mainly caused by petroleum hydrocarbons, while groundwater was mainly contaminated by the organic chemical benzene. The groundwater at the polluted sites was used for washing cars, not as drinking water, the management board said, adding that because of thick layers of cement, the volatile pollutants are unlikely to vaporize into the air and affect health.

However, the EPA said it would continue to remedy the situation at the polluted sites and, at the same time, strictly monitor other petrol stations.

Australia, New South Wales, Burwood.

Petrol station sign turned into towering inferno

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Photos of the station showed that it had the normal green, red and white signs borne by all Pemex petrol stations throughout Mexico.

Pemex licenses the stations to be run by private concessionaires, who must buy fuel from the company.

The Attorney General's Office said the Monterrey station's concession had been cancelled in 2010.

The company is taking the threat seriously enough that it is starting a nationwide, random audit of stations throughout the country, in part because the volume of oil products being stolen appears to be too large to move through primitive, improvised outlets.

The company says it lost about 2.99 million barrels, or about 125 million gallons, of oil products in the first 11 months of 2011, the latest figures available. That represented about a full day's worth of total production for the company, and marked a 52-percent increase over the 1.96 million barrels stolen in the same period of 2010.

According to a U.S. court case, Mexican gangs trafficked some stolen crude over the border to U.S. refineries, and in June 2011, Pemex filed a lawsuit against nine U.S. companies and two individuals for alleged involvement in buying or processing Mexican oil products stolen by gangs.

Thieves have also sold unrefined fuels to bulk users such as brick kilns and factories, but the amount of petrol being stolen would be inappropriate for such uses, or even private truck fleets.

Pemex said the task force will use mobile labs to test stations' petrol to detect whether it was illicitly mixed or transported. It will also review tax and commercial records to detect whether any station is selling more petrol than it has ordered.

The 1,324 illegal taps and break-ins at Pemex pipelines discovered in 2011 are only part of the complex series of attacks on the company.

A Mexican legislator said that an oil spill in early January in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz was intentionally caused to create a pollution emergency, in order to generate income and contracts for clean-up work.

Federal Congressman Antonio

A sign outside a Sydney petrol station exploded into a towering inferno, stunning passing motorists and forcing a nearby school to evacuate. Fire crews were called to the blaze, sparked by an electrical fault within the sign, on Parramatta Rd in Burwood at about 9.30am (AEDT).

Video posted online shows the sixmetre tall sign engulfed in flames, with pieces of it breaking off and tumbling to the ground only metres from the road. A NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman said: “We received a triple-0 call saying there was a fire producing large volumes of smoke. “Only one crew was needed, the power was isolated and then the fire was extinguished.”

He said nobody was hurt in the incident.

The thick smoke prompted St Mary's Primary School — located over the road from the petrol station

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— to evacuate, on what was their kindergarten students very first day in the classroom. St Mary's Primary School Principal Trish Bevan said the fire made a memorable day for 80 of the school's newest students.

“They (the kindergarten students) had just settled into class with their teachers, and their parents had gone over to the library and were enjoying a lovely morning tea when we saw the smoke,” Ms Bevan said.

“We decided to be safe rather than sorry and decided to evacuate.”

Students in years one to six were taken to a nearby park and the kindergarten children were moved to the library. Ms Bevan said the evacuation “worked like clockwork” and the new students were very well behaved. “They did exactly as they were asked … their first day will be a memorable one but there were no tears.” Fire station commander Chris Sykes inspected the school to make sure it was safe for the children to return and classes were back to normal around lunch.

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Serbia, Belgrade. NIS to invest EUR 100mn in petrol station

Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) will invest some EUR 100mn in modernization and construction of new petrol stations in Serbia in the next two and a half years. NIS General Manager Kirill Kravchenko announced this recently at the opening of the first NIS petrol station sporting new three-colour appearance.

The quality of petrol and diesel fuels at the stations will be satisfactory for customers, Kravchenko said at the opening of the first re-branded facility Zmaj Dva, which was also attended by Belgrade Mayor Dragan Ðilas and President of the Belgrade City ´ Assembly Aleksandar Antic.

Kravchenko said that by opening this-three-colour petrol station, the NIS moves a step closer to Serbia, taking into account the colours used in the new NIS brand - red, blue, and white.

The first re-branded NIS petrol station opened on the site of the existing NIS retail facility Zmaj Dva on the highway E-75 on the outskirts of 28

Belgrade. The new visual identity of the NIS petrol stations will retain distinctive features of the old brand, and the blue colour, used for the company's name, has been introduced to mark synergy with the brand Gazprom Neft.

Indonesia, Government prepares loan facility for fuel stations

The government will set aside Rp 500 billion (US$55.6 million) to provide soft loans for fuel station owners in Java and Bali to prepare the stations for the implementation of the subsidized fuels restriction plan, according to an official.

The government has not determined the loans’ terms and conditions, but the Finance Ministry has agreed to include the funds in the revision of the 2012 State Budget, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s oil and gas director general Evita Herawati Legowo said.

“We have discussed with the Finance Ministry. The fund is ready and now we’re going to think about the technical details of its disbursement,” she informed after a video conference at her office in Jakarta.

According to the ministry’s data, out of more than 3,000 fuel stations in Java and Bali, 295 stations have yet to sell non-subsidized fuels. As a result, each station would require an investment to install new tanks and dispensers to store and sell the nonsubsidized fuels. As many as 687 stations on the two islands still need to switch the function of their tanks from storing subsidized fuels to nonsubsidized fuels.

Pertamina spokesperson Mochamad Harun reported earlier that the 295 stations need a total investment of Rp 115.9 billion or Rp 393 million per station.

Despite the House of Representatives’ skepticism that the government would be ready to ban all private cars from buying Premium (the heavily consumed subsidized fuel), Evita said the government would continuously push the preparation for the implementation

of the policy. “Our last meeting with House Commission VII (overseeing energy) requested us to comprehensively study all options to control the amount of the fuel subsidy, including cutting the subsidy for Premium,” she explained.

The chairman of the Association of Fuel Station Owners (Hiswana Migas), Eri Purnomo Hadi, requested that the government delay the policy’s implementation deadline.

He argued many station owners were not ready to ban private cars from buying Premium as they had not secured access to soft loans for investments.

The association said it was better if the government raised the price of Premium because it did not require station owners to upgrade their stations and the government would be freed from the obligation to prepare sophisticated supervision to prevent distortions.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said that there was a growing discussion between the government and the House to raise fuel prices. “Concerning fuel prices, I must say that we still want to comply with the 2012 State Budget Law that stipulates restriction on fuel so that the usage volume will not exceed 40 million kiloliters and to look for alternative energy in form of gas,” Agus added.

India, Saiyedpura.

Tanker catches fire at petrol pump

A major tragedy was averted at the crowded Saiyedpura area in the walled city recently when a petrol tanker of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) caught fire during refilling at M/s Market Auto Petrol Pump.

Official sources said the tanker arrived at the IOC petrol pump at Saiyedpura for refilling one afternoon.

About 12,000 litres of petrol were being off-loaded in the underground petrol tank. Suddenly, the petrol tanker caught fire due to an electric spark and the fire spread to the underground petrol tank as well. Sensing major trouble, the petrol tanker's driver immediately drove the burning vehicle out of the petrol pump area and proceeded

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towards the cramped Bhagal intersection.

About 14 fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot along with foam tenders. While four fire tenders doused the burning petrol tanker on Bhagal intersection within a few minutes, it took about an hour for the fire fighters to control the fire at the petrol pump. Sources said that about 8,000 litres of foam were sprayed to control the fire at the petrol pump and on the petrol tanker. There has been no casualty in the fire incident.

Interestingly, a similar incident was reported at the same petrol pump in January 2012. The fire tanker had caught fire due to some technical snag, but the fire was controlled by the petrol pump staff with fire extinguishers. Pankaj Patel, chief fire officer (CFO), told TOI, “Had it been a big fire it would have affected more than 400 residential houses and shops surrounding the petrol pump. This is the second fire incident at the same pump. We had issued a notice to the pump owner to follow fire safety norms. Now, after this incident, we are planning to initiate strict action against the petrol pump owner.” Patel added, “It is compulsory for all petrol pump owners in the city to renew their fire safety licences every year, but less than 1% are following norms. We have urged the municipal commissioner to issue a notification in this regard.”

Tanzania, Airtel Tanzania links mpayments deal with Gulf African Petroleum Corp (Gapco)

Airtel Tanzania has signed a partnership deal with Gapco to allow motorists to refuel their cars without having cash in their hands.

Airtel Money subscribers will be able to refuel using their Airtel money accounts at some selected Gapco pump stations.

To refuel a vehicle using Airtel Money the subscriber has to select the Airtel Money Menu located on their mobile phones, then select “send” the password which then 30

selects the option for the user to type the name of the pump station where he or she is refueling.

Motorists will be required to type in the amount to be transferred and PIN number.

More filling stations will be included in the future.

Apart from offering the option to pay for fuel using Airtel Money, these outlets also act as Airtel Agents w h o s e f u n c t i o n s include cash in and cash out services.

Canada, AB, Bowness. Province has had enough with petrol plus

Alberta has given the owners of a former Bowness petrol station a firm order to clean up the site after rejecting an appeal from the company.

The appeal was submitted to the Environmental Appeals Board in November 2011.

Alberta Water and Environment Minister Diana McQueen said in a release that the order requires the company to take aggressive action to clean up the site. “It is important that Bowness residents get closure to a situation that has been unacceptable for far too long.” The provincial order requires the company to confirm the location of all the contaminated material, remove it, and begin a remediation program for the remainder of the property. In addition to the order, the Alberta Health Services will also be able to work with a broader indoor air quality sampling area which will include more homes and

businesses and devote an independent qualified professional to the task.

The issue with the Petrol Plus station all started when an estimated 9,000 litres of fuel started leaking from underground tanks into the soil. As a result, residents nearby complained of petrol fumes in their basements and several building permits have been held up ever since the leak was found in May 2010.

At that time, the company said the leak was the size of a pinhole and claim they responded immediately to the problem.

However, in December 2010, residents in the area still complained about the fumes. “We didn't know what it was. We thought it might've been a new laundry detergent. We thought it might have been the new fabric softener. Gone through everything making sure there's not paint in the house, trying to narrowing it down, that type of thing, before we realized it was coming out of the well,” said Terry Floate.

At that time, Alberta Environment slapped the company with an

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Liberia, Super Petroleum gears up for competition with Total

Super Petroleum (SP) has begun preparing itself for stiff competition with the French major oil company TOTAL in Liberia. The petroleum retailing entity is currently refurbishing its 9th Street, Sinkor, branch with new building and modern fuel pumps.

The newly constructed branch facing the main Tubman Boulevard has a mini super market and a lube bay similar to that of TOTAL. The ground surface, previously rough and crooked, has been repaved to enable easy entry and exit. When completed and dedicated, it is expected to provide jobs for more than 20 Liberians.

Unlike SP, TOTAL started not with mini petrol stations, but began in its current form and has spread across the country into major towns such as

Buchanan, Kakata, and Ganta. SP, by contrast, was once part of the Aminata network and is now expanding into a full-fledged modern fuel station retailer. SP has more than ten branches in and around Monrovia, and continues to expand into other areas that are not yet being served.

TOTAL’s presence in the petroleum market has reduced the frequency of petroleum shortages that often led to transportation price hikes when the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) was the only entity importing and distributing fuel products. SP’s entry into the market now promises to further reduce those shortages.

Information collected from motorists, including motorcyclists, taxi drivers, and generator owners, however, suggests that SP apparently does not give consumers an exactly measured delivery at the pump. Consumers expressed that they prioritize TOTAL not only because of its magnificent facilities, but its fairness and honesty in delivering exact quantities.

Others said despite their preference, they are often constrained to buy from SP because of their loyalty SP fuel coupons programs.

Meanwhile, the petroleum industry is becoming more vibrant and competitive in Liberia. A few years ago, vendors were selling petrol in gallon-sized glass jars by the road side. Today, modern stations are beginning to spring up, especially in Monrovia. Along Somalia Drive and the main road leading to Red Light Market, construction is taking place on petrol distributing stations yet to be branded.

It is not yet clear as to how and when SP and competitors will differentiate their marketing strategy and expand across the country as extensively as TOTAL has done. While there may be other challenges to a national expansion, bad roads remain the greatest hurdles facing even TOTAL, the first major entrant into the petroleum industry. This, according to the company, is why the giant oil company has not reached Lofa and other counties in the southeast such as Grand Gedeh, River Gee, Sinoe, Grand Kru,

Maryland and Rivercess.

Although employment and the increased availability of petroleum products on the market will benefit consumers as competition increases, what may remain constant or perhaps even increase is the price of the commodity.

Competition is a factor that typically drives the price of a commodity down; but this is not the case with petroleum, whose price is often affected by the global economic crisis.

Belarus, Belneftekhim provides almost all filling stations with arctic fuel

Before frost it was not in demand because of prices, that's why it was not produced. According to Belneftekhim, now oil refineries started actively manufacturing “nonfreezing diesel” said Igor Zhilin, Chairman of Belneftekhim.

The issue of oil supply is solved in Belarus. According to Belneftekhim, the country receives preferential oil prices for 4 years. One barrel of oil for Belarus has almost the same price as in Russia. Belarus will receive the necessary quantity, which was increased by 12 % for this year.

Absence of demand for potash fertilizers can affect the tendency to ramp up output this year. Market demand dropped down by 30%.

Now the Belneftekhim group is trying to eliminate the “potash gap” in external trade. Nevertheless, oil prices will allow Belneftekhim to increase profit this year, added Igor Zhilin.

Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh. Firms lose licences for substandard petrol

The deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, Le Manh Ha, has signed a decision to fine the Sai Gon Passenger Transport Co, Ltd VND30 million (US$1,420) for selling substandard petrol with an octane rating lower than regulated.

The committee also revoked the company's licence for petrol trading after the city's Department of

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environmental protection order for failing to remediate contamination on and off its property. The company was given an order to clean up by March 2011, but project delays forced that to be pushed back to the end of June 2011.

Following that deadline, the province worked out a deal with the company to build a concrete retaining wall around the contaminated soil instead of removing it from the ground.

The problem took a turn for the worse in January 2011 when three families had to be evacuated from their homes until the clean up was finished due to dangerous levels of fuel in the ground. In March, the final report hadn't been completed on the site so any remediation efforts were stalled, causing businesses in the area to become concerned.

Patience Gold, owner of Afrikana Beauty Supplies, and her husband Rick Gold began to talk with other business owners about their concerns with the leak. “I think from what I gather, these kinds of toxic spills can be dangerous to your health,” said another area business owner J.D. Esler. “A good clean-up, you wonder if that's enough.”

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Science and Technology tested petrol samples. The test results showed that the company sold petrol with an octane rating of 93.8, even though it was advertised as 95.

Seven petrol trading enterprises have been asked to pay fines for the same violations, and their licences have also been revoked.

South Africa, Bloemfontein. Man dies in fuel station explosion

NEWS

The owner of a Free State fuel station died and two of his workers were taken to hospital with burns after a massive explosion, presumably caused by a gas bottle.

The owner of a fuel station in Vrede was killed and two of his employees were seriously injured in a huge explosion and fire that gutted the fuel station and next-door tyre company. A gas bottle was believed to have exploded in the shop of the Mahem garage in Church Street, leading to the death of Nico Kotze, 48. Free State police spokesperson Captain Harry Nagel said Kotze and two employees, Bongani Ndlebe, 26, and Stoffel Maduna, 27, were in the building at about 11:00 when the gas bottle presumably exploded.

A fire then started. Kotze apparently fell down as they were rushing out of the burning building.

The garage and adjacent company, Speedy Tyres, were gutted by the fire. Kotze’s body was found after the flames were put out.

Ndlebe and Maduna were rushed to the Manapo Hospital in Qwaqwa.

They were in a stable condition.

Ndlebe had 35% burn wounds to his face, arms and chest, and Maduna had 20% burn wounds to his face and arms, as well as burns to his legs.

Several businesses in Vrede were temporarily shut and evacuated after the explosion. The area was closed off for safety reasons. A resident said people were still not permitted to go near the buildings out of fear that the underground fuel tanks could explode.

Johan du Toit, owner of the gutted 32

tyre company, said he was working in the office when he heard a huge bang. At first he thought one of his workers had perhaps pumped up a tyre too much and it had burst.

When he went outside, a cloud of smoke hung over the fuel station. He then realised something had exploded. He and his staff evacuated the premises and safely removed the vehicles. Five minutes later the windows of his business were shattered and the building started burning. He said the fuel station and his building would have to be demolished. “I will probably only be able to do business again in six months’ time. All the stock burnt down and we will have to rebuild the building.” Nagel said an inquest would be held into Kotze’s death. A forensic team from Pretoria would investigate the cause of the explosion.

Germany, Europe's largest hydrogen refuelling station opens in Hamburg

A hydrogen station capable of delivering 750 kilograms of hydrogen per day opened in Hamburg's HafenCity development, supplied by power company Vattenfall. It is Europe’s largest and will deliver fuel for twenty fuel cell buses operated by public transport authority Hamburger Hochbahn as well as making hydrogen available for fuel cell cars. The cost of around €10 million was shared by Vattenfall and the German Federal Ministry of Transport Half the hydrogen is produced on site by electrolysis of water using renewable energy and the other half is delivered. At the inauguration of the station, Pieter Wasmuth, Executive Vice President of Vattenfall, said that hydrogen storage is a key technology in the integration of a growing proportion of electricity from wind power and photovoltaics into the German energy system. The inauguration was attended by Frank Horch, Senator of Commerce of the city of Hamburg, and Rainer Bomba, State

Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.

The station is part of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), in which Vattenfall is involved with other partners in creating hydrogen infrastructure in Germany. It is also part of the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) and the energy concept for Hamburg, which was agreed late last year between the city and Vattenfall.

India, South Delhi, Vasant Vihar. Fire at LPG filling station; four people injured

Four persons sustained minor injuries when a car caught fire at an LPG filling station of Indian Oil in South Delhi. The fire at the filling station, located at Munirka near the Vasant Vihar DTC bus depot, was reported around 8.25p.m. As per the preliminary reports, a car that had come to the filling station caught fire.

To ensure that the blaze did not spread to the rest of the filling station, a number of staff members began using fire extinguishers to douse the flames. In the process, two filling station employees and two other persons suffered minor injuries. In the meantime, the Delhi Fire Service said, the fire spread to the main valve of the LPG supply.

Almost three hours after the fire started, the fire personnel were still battling the blaze which though confined posed a serious threat to the entire area. In all, the DFS had pressed 10 vehicles into service until 11.30p.m.

It said its personnel were continuously spraying water on the fire to control it. To limit the impact of the fire, the Delhi Police quickly cordoned off the area and diverted the traffic in the vicinity to safety. It also quickly cleared the way for the emergency vehicles to operate. The entire area was cordoned off to keep the bystanders at bay and to allow the fire fighters an opportunity to combat the blaze effectively.

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UK forecourt network numbers continue to fall

The latest Retail Marketing Survey, conducted by the Energy Institute (EI), shows that the number of forecourts in the UK continued to decline over the past year, falling to just 8,480 sites – down from 8,892 outlets in 2010. This is compared to 1967's all-time high of 39,958 forecourts.

The Retail Marketing Survey, published with the EI’s March issue of Petroleum Review, provides a comprehensive, statistical overview of the UK forecourt market. Data is broken down by company, region and forecourt facilities. The survey is based on statistics relating to end2011 and does not reflect changes since that date. The figures are cross-checked with numbers from market analyst Experian Catalist.

Key findings of the survey show:

PRESS RELEASES

• There were 8,480 operational filling stations in the UK at endDecember 2011.

• Petrol sales totalled 13.86mn tonnes by year-end – down from 15.01mn tonnes at the close of 2010.

• Diesel sales totalled 13.91mn tonnes by year-end – rising slightly from 13.06mn tonnes a year earlier.

• Total 2011 road fuel sales fell slightly to 35.608mn tonnes – down from 36.111mn tonnes in 2010.

• By the close of 2011, unleaded prices had averaged 133.60 p/l (versus 117.16 p/l in 2010); while diesel prices closed the year at an average price of 138.90 p/l (versus 119.51 p/l).

• Registered UK vehicles rose from 34.1mn in 2010 to reach 34.7mn by end-2011, with each forecourt supplying an average of 4,088 vehicles.

• Site number breakdown by sector in 2011: - oil company sites decreased by 34

209 to 5,310 - main retailer sites increased by 15 to 906 - supermarket sites increased by 27 to 1,316 - smaller retailer sites decreased by 8 to 63 - other unbranded sites decreased by 41 to 885 • 711 sites retail auto-LPG – the largest operators are Shell with 213 sites and BP with 207.

• The five largest oil company operations by number of branded forecourts were (2010 figures in brackets): - BP: 1,178 (1,174) up 4 - Esso: 890 (923) down 34 - Shell: 845 (886) down 41 - Texaco: 840 (897) down 57 - Total: 782 (833) down 51 The 2012 Retail Marketing Survey is available, priced £94, from the Energy Institute.

To order your copy, please contact: Chris Baker, t: +44 (0)20 7467 7114; e: cbaker@energyinst.org

European Standards Organisations enlarge membership to include Turkey

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) have both decided to grant full membership status to the Turkish Standards Institution (TSE). This change took effect on 1 January 2012, and represents an important step towards the full participation of Turkey in the European Single Market.

TSE has already been cooperating closely with CEN and CENELEC for several years, and in January 2008 it became an affiliate of both organisations. The application of TSE to become a full member of CEN and CENELEC has been formally accepted by the General Assemblies of both organisations, in accordance with their respective rules and procedures.

Following the accession of TSE, both CEN and CENELEC will have

national members in 32 European countries, covering more than 590 million consumers in total. These include all 27 countries of the European Union and three countries of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) plus two EU candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey).

Since 1995, Turkey has been in a Customs Union with the European Union. This covers trade in manufactured products between Turkey and the EU, and also entails alignment by Turkey with certain EU policies, such as technical regulation of products, competition, and Intellectual Property Law. The decision to recognize Turkey as a candidate for EU membership was taken by the European Council in December 1999, and accession negotiations were formally opened in October 2005.

Elena SANTIAGO CID, Director General of the CEN CENELEC Management Centre in Brussels explains the significance of TSE’s membership of CEN and CENELEC: “The accession of the Turkish Standards Institution as a full member of both CEN and CENELEC is a very positive and important development, both for Turkey and for the European Standardization system. It means that Turkey will be better placed to participate fully in the European Single Market, because there is a clear commitment to the acceptance of European Standards (ENs) and the elimination of any conflicting national standards.”

“On behalf of CEN and CENELEC, I very much welcome the participation of TSE in our structures, and I am convinced that our Turkish friends will make a positive contribution to the continuing success of the European Standardization system in the coming years.”

About CEN The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is a business catalyst in Europe, removing trade barriers for European stakeholders such as industry, public administration, service providers, consumers and other stakeholders.

Its mission is to foster the European

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economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens, and the environment. Through its services CEN provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other specifications.

CEN’s 32* National Members work together to develop voluntary European Standards (ENs) in various sectors to build a European Internal Market for goods and services and to position Europe in the global economy. By supporting research, and helping disseminate innovation, standards are a powerful tool for economic growth. More than 60.000 technical experts as well as business federations, consumer and other societal interest organizations are involved in the CEN network that reaches over 480 million people. For further information, please visit: www.cen.eu * including Turkey (as from 1 January 2012) About CENELEC The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization is officially responsible for standardization in the electrotechnical field. In an ever more global economy, CENELEC fosters innovation and competitiveness, making technology available not only to major businesses but also to SMEs through the production of voluntary standards. CENELEC creates market access at the European level but also at the international level through its cooperation agreement with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Through the work of its 32 Members together with its experts, the industry federations and consumers, Electrotechnical European Standards are created in order to help shape the European Internal Market, to encourage technological development, to ensure interoperability and to guarantee the safety and health of consumers and provide environmental protection. Detailed information available at www.cenelec.eu * including Turkey (as from 1 January 2012)

About TSE The Turkish Standards Institution (Türk Standardlari Enstitüsü) was set up in 1954 as an autonomous institute affiliated to the Union of Turkish Chambers of Commerce. In 1960, the TSE acquired the status of a legal entity administered under the provisions of Civil Law. The TSE has been a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) since 1955, and of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) since 1956. It has been an affiliate of both CEN and CENELEC since January 2008.

The TSE has its headquarters in Ankara. For more information, please visit: http://global.tse.org.tr

Leighton O’Brien grows U.S. and International Network for tank and fuel management

Fourteen new licensed service distributors appointed to meet demand.

Colorado Springs, February 27, 2012 – Leighton O’Brien announced a total of fourteen new U.S. and international licensed service providers signed up as part of its rapidly growing network to deliver best-practice technology for tank and fuel management.

The fourteen new service providers join fourteen existing service providers already operating as part of the global Leighton O’Brien portfolio in the U.S., Asia and Australia and New Zealand.

The Leighton O’Brien service network is a combination of direct company operations and a team of highly qualified service distributors that typically provide maintenance services for petroleum storage systems.

“By becoming a licensed service provider for Leighton O’Brien, companies can expand their regional presence and join in a network using superior test methods and systems,” said Reed Leighton, Co-Founder and CEO. “The benefit is that licensed service providers can optimize their technician time and offer a more integrated service offering for repairs, maintenance,

replacements and installations.”

Established in 1995, Leighton O’Brien is a global leader in tank and fuel management. Using best practice technology, Leighton O’Brien is able to deliver EPAcertified environmental compliance through certified high definition wet stock management in real time or other analysis periods; tank and line testing accurate to 1/7,000 PSI and fully digitized, third-party engineerreviewed analysis.

Leighton O’Brien’s tank cleaning and fuel restoration services are equally superior with sophisticated technology that filters fuel down to a particulate size of 2 microns. Earlier this year, Leighton O’Brien became the first company in its industry to offer a one-year guarantee on tank cleans and a five-year guarantee on installation testing in the U.S. Leighton O’Brien licensed service providers are located coast-tocoast in the following U.S. states: California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

Additional service distributorship opportunities with Leighton O’Brien are currently available.

Recent additions to Leighton O’Brien’s international network include a third New Zealand licensed service provider, an Australian licensed service provider dedicated to the multibillion dollar resources boom in Western Australia and a Queensland-based licensed service provider to increase the company’s regional footprint in rural Australia.

Franklin Fueling Systems named as Shell’s supplier partner for global retail fuel systems

Madison, Wisconsin USA - March 12, 2012 - Franklin Fueling Systems is proud to announce a new, innovative relationship with Shell International Petroleum Company Limited that effectively establishes Franklin Fueling Systems as its one-

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stop-shop for Shell global Retail fuel system needs.

The new agreement includes a broad array of fueling system equipment and associated design services and achieves Shell’s aim of materially reducing their total cost of ownership by applying Franklin’s expertise in optimized system design, resulting in more cost efficient site layouts.

In addition to providing best in class products, Franklin provides unmatched global reach and fuel system expertise. “When choosing a supplier partner, we turned to the only company with global reach able to supply the full range of products required by Shell,” declared Chris Hallsworth, Global Category Manager, Retail Engineering. By choosing quality supplier Franklin Fueling Systems, Shell also benefits from simplified ordering, improved logistics costs and reduced future maintenance/environmental costs.

With the most comprehensive product offering in the industry, Franklin Fueling Systems provides unparalleled simplicity in placing one order, having one point of contact, relying on one service team and receiving one consolidated shipment.

Also of significant importance to Shell in their decision was the reduction of contractor high-risk exposure hours. In this capacity Franklin is superbly equipped with designs for pre-assembly that reduce onsite labour hours and help contribute to the Shell ‘Goal Zero’ safety aim and commitment to environmental sustainability.

“Franklin Fueling Systems is exceptionally suited to deliver the most innovative and high quality products to meet the global needs of Shell,” expressed Jay Walsh, VP of Business Franklin’s Development. “We are the industry leader in total global fuel system solutions, and are pleased to be associated with a world class organization like Shell International Petroleum. Franklin Fueling Systems is committed to helping Shell achieve its vision to build the best fuel stations with the finest equipment, at the lowest total cost of ownership, in the safest manner.”

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Franklin Fueling Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Electric Co., Inc., a global leader in the production and marketing of systems and components for the movement of water and automotive fuels. Recognized as a technical leader in its specialties, Franklin Electric serves customers around the world in residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, municipal and fueling applications.

For further information, visit www.franklinfueling.com.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 100 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects. Shell operates 43,000 service stations worldwide. For further information, visit www.shell.com.

Retail Promotions At Murco

Murco Petroleum is pleased to announce four senior management promotions within their retail operations.

Jamie Goodfellow

Jamie Goodfellow has been appointed Retail Marketing Director.

Prior to this move, Jamie was Treasury & Tax Director with additional responsibility for the

company’s insurance and pension departments.

Jamie joined Murco in August 1985 as an Area Retail Manager, transferring to Supply, Transportation & Manufacturing in 1987 as Supply & Trading Co-ordinator. In 1989 he moved into the Treasury Department as Manager, Treasury & Insurance, subsequently becoming Treasury & Tax Director in 2009.

Gary Pearce

Gary Pearce who joined Murco in November 2008 as Network Manager, Shops, has been promoted to General Manager, Non Fuel.

Gary’s new role will be to work with new and existing suppliers and manufacturers to generate incremental income to the business, improve Murco’s trading terms and seek out new non-fuel income streams for the company.

Gary joined Murco from Costcutter where he had been their National Forecourt Sales Manager.

He worked for Costcutter for 10 years and while there he managed the Murco account and was responsible for store numbers growing from 8 to 212.

Amalan Poopalasingham has been promoted to Network Manager, Shops. Amalan joined Murco in 2007 as an Area Retail Manager; being promoted Regional Manager in 2009.

Amalan has a host of forecourt and retail experience having also worked for Chevron and Somerfield.

On the dealer side of the business, Paul Almond has been promoted to Dealer Sales Manager. He joined Murco in 1994 as an Area Regional Manager covering company and dealer sites in the south west of

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operator model is one that we know works well in our business sector. We gain by having self-motivated and dedicated contract managers and the managers themselves have the opportunity to run their own businesses.

“In addition, the commission operator model gives us important flexibility in line with our growth plans for the future.”

The changeover to contract manager operation has already started and will be complete across MFG’s 48 station network by the first week of April.

Amalan Poopalasingham

Fibrelite continues to expand global manufacturing of fibreglass manhole covers and service station equipment

New 15,000sq ft. facility opens in KL Malaysia.

PRESS RELEASES

Paul Almond

England. In 1998 he became a Business Development Manager responsible for developing Murco’s dealer network in Wales and south west England.

Motor Fuel Group switches To Commission Operators

Top Indies forecourt operator, Motor Fuel Group (MFG) is changing its mode of forecourt operation from direct managed to commission operator.

Tony Walker, MFG’s Non Fuel Director says: “The commission

Tony Walker

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Fibrelite, the world’s leading and largest manufacturer of composite manhole covers announced today it has expanded its global operations with the opening of a new Malaysian production and service facility in order to meet accelerating demand. In addition to this new manufacturing facility, Fibrelite also has a 30,000sq ft. factory in the UK and a 35,000sq ft. plant in the US. South East Asia is a rapidly growing region of the world economy with increasing car ownership meaning service station construction is buoyant in these emerging markets.

Fibrelite chose Malaysia as its SE Asia manufacturing hub because of its

Malaysia Team

investor friendly approach to business and inward investment.

“We want to thank all our employees, our existing customers and the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (MIDA) for their support,” said Ian Thompson, Fibrelite’s Managing Director. “This latest investment in our manufacturing capabilities has put Fibrelite in an even stronger position to shape the future of the industry, worldwide. We’re making significant investments in technology, product innovation, and state-of-the art manufacturing operations to serve our customers around the world.”

“As market leader, we have a responsibility to deliver fast service and top-quality products at highly competitive prices direct to this region. With our own, d e d i c a t e d manufacturing and service facility now open in Kuala Lumpur, we will be able to better serve our customers in South East Asia and accelerate our growth. This move underscores Fibrelite’s ongoing strategy to support local infrastructure. With our brand new modern facility we can now manufacture high quality parts in volume with a skilled, trained workforce which is predominantly local labour.”

The new production facility is now fully operational meaning Fibrelite can supply locally its full range of tank covers, tank chambers, dispenser sumps, fill sumps and penetration fittings. “As we have reached full production capacity

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will transform Malaysia into a highincome nation by 2020. Further information on services provided by MIDA is available at www.mida.gov.my.”

In addition to its established business of supplying service station equipment, Fibrelite are now supplying composite fibreglass covers to utility and telecoms markets. Due to the recent increase in metal theft (including manhole covers) which has reached epidemic proportions in some countries, there is a significant demand for a fibreglass solution to the problem.

Historically fibreglass manhole covers have been more expensive than their metal equivalent and coupled with high import duties and other costs this solution has been uncompetitive. Fibrelite intend to exploit its quality, high volume, low cost manufacturing facility in Malaysia to offer a very cost competitive alternative which will save the affected industries significant cost reductions on replacing stolen manhole covers.

Additionally this should lead to an improvement to general health and safety as more and more injuries are occurring to the public as a result of falling down open manholes due to theft of the covers.

Franklin Fueling Systems announces ‘Franklin Powers my Business Contest’, winners introduce ‘Launch Pad’

Madison, Wisconsin USA - March 7, 2012 - Franklin Fueling Systems is pleased to announce the top ten winners of the ‘Franklin Powers My Business’ contest.

Customers submitted many amazing stories about how FE Petro brand submersible pumps have become a vital product for their business’s success; a true testament to the benchmark performance and proven track record of the Franklin Electric Motor. Each of the following top ten winners will receive an iPad2 delivered personally by their regional sales team manager with the Grand Prize Winner additionally receiving an FE Petro submersible

turbine pump cutaway: Steve Launius EZ Mart Stores Inc (Grand Prize Winner) Matt Robertson Tri-Star Petroleum Jimmy Cartmill, Shields Harper & Co. Richard Martineau Waleco Tim Woolaver National Energy Equipment Inc. Jeanne Murphy Murck Core Engineered Solutions, Inc. Terry Matthews Oscar W. Larson Co. Glenn Farmer D&H/United Pump Supply Dave Mordick Robinson Oil Corporation Scott Milsted Mascott Equipment Additionally, Franklin is pleased to introduce ‘Launch Pad’, your new launch point for Franklin Fueling Systems Apps which are designed specifically to give you a hands-on look at its latest products. Whether you use an iPad or a PC, each App is fully optimized to run on all of your mobile devices as well as through a standard web browser. Franklin is committed to providing its customers with innovative new ways to view products, making it easier than ever to learn about the extensive product offering in a fun and interactive way.

Visit franklinfueling.com/launchpad to access the Apps today.

Franklin Fueling Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Electric Co., Inc., a global leader in the production and marketing of systems and components for the movement of water and automotive fuels. Recognized as a technical leader in its specialties, Franklin Electric serves customers around the world in residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, municipal and fueling applications.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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PRESS RELEASES

earlier than expected we can now supply all our customers in South East Asia directly from Malaysia which include Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.”

A formal ribbon-cutting opening ceremony is scheduled for several weeks’ time. Key customers, suppliers and members of the Malaysia Investment Development Authority are expected to attend.

Fibrelite manufactures all its equipment using Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) techniques which produce high quality parts consistently which are increasingly in demand from the oil companies as they strive to eliminate all risks of fuel contamination at service stations.

With the introduction of ethanol blended fuels across the region, watertight containment is the highest priority for oil companies.

Fibrelite’s vacuum tested FRP products provide the perfect solution.

RTM processes are not well established in SE Asia and Fibrelite has spent 12 months negotiating with local suppliers to ensure local availability of the specialised raw materials and resins needed to supply its KL factory.

“The advantages of making our customers’ requirements in Malaysia include elimination of customs duties (typically 30%) and expensive sea freight (15%) which are both associated with imported products.

Fibrelite will pass on these savings to our established customers and intend to use this competitive advantage to win valuable new business with the local oil companies in the region.”

For the past 12 months Fibrelite has worked closely with the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (MIDA) who gave advice and provided local expertise to facilitate a substantial investment in the manufacturing sector.

MIDA spokesperson states “MIDA welcomes Fibrelite’s project in Malaysia.

The project which supports the oil and gas industry in Malaysia is in-line with the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

The oil, gas and energy industry has been identified as one of the 12 National Key Economic (NKEAs) that

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Exhibition Conference Awards Dinner

8 NOVEMBER 2012

RICOH ARENA COVENTRY

APEA Live 2012: time to engage with your industry event APEA Live, the best 24 hours on the trade calendar, returns to Ricoh Arena this November, so it’s time to ensure you and your company are involved with all that’s on offer via the day’s three key elements.

ARTICLES

This is the specialist annual event for the petroleum industry, incorporating an engaging Exhibition, unmissable Conference and glittering Awards Dinner, all in one fantastic day.

Coming off the back of a record breaking edition last year (more daytime and evening attendees than ever before), 2012 will be even bigger and better, so please get in touch ASAP to secure your involvement at this incredible event.

APEA Live is the most informative and influential event our industry has. Do not miss the opportunity to mix it up with the great and the good at Ricoh Arena.

The event preview that follows is designed to give you a taste of what to expect at the event and provide you with the key information you need to plan your participation.

For additional information, visit www.apea.org.uk and follow the ‘APEA Live 2012’ link on the homepage.

APEA Live 2012: the programme

10:00 10:30 12:00 13:15 16:00 16:30 19:00 20:00 01:00

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Exhibition & Conference registration opens Conference opens Lunch APEA AGM Conference closes Exhibition closes Pre-Dinner Drinks Reception (Exhibition re-opens) Awards Dinner opens Carriages APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Sav The e Date 8 No ! vem

Rico ber 201 hA 2 Cov rena entry

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Exhibition Conference Aw a rd s D i n n e r

APEA Live 2012: Awards Dinner

8 NOVEMBER 2012

RICOH ARENA COVENTRY

The Awards Dinner is, hands down, the industry’s night of the year and will provide a magnificent climax to APEA Live 2012.

The glittering evening recognises industry excellence, delivers gourmet food and fine wine, and provides electrifying entertainment. Over 600 attendees will gather to entertain their best clients and prospects, or reward senior members of their team for a ‘job well done’ in 2012!

Last year saw a record breaking audience enjoy a remarkable night. This year’s event will raise the bar even higher!

Hot off the press: two new awards added to the 2012 roll of honour...

The APEA Events Committee have introduced two exciting new categories for this year’s ceremony, namely ‘Lifetime Achievement’* and ‘Service Station of the Year’*. These will be added to 5 other stellar titles, creating a prestigious line-up of awards that recognise elite industry achievements.

New awards, in focus…

‘Service Station of the Year’* will reward the best forecourt (either total new build or major rebuild) that has opened over the past 12 months. Owners, designers, project managers and contractors can submit joint entries conveying why their facility deserves to be recognised as the best new site of the year.

‘Lifetime Achievement’*, sponsored by Elaflex Ltd, will recognise an outstanding individual that has dedicated a career to our industry, registering extraordinary achievements and demonstrating consistent excellence along the way.

2012 awards list:

ARTICLES

• • • • • • •

Lifetime Achievement Award* sponsored by Elaflex Ltd Health and Safety Performance Award sponsored by Franklin Fueling Systems Innovation Award Environmental Protection Award sponsored by Terence Barker Ltd Quality Award Personal Contribution to the industry in 2011/2012 Award Service Station of the Year Award*

For all the information you need on all categories, visit www.apea.org.uk, and follow the ‘APEA Live 2012’ link from the homepage.

Enter for an APEA award; a ‘must’, not a ‘maybe’

Getting shortlisted, or even winning an award represents a lucrative opportunity for all APEA members, elevating your company’s industry status and showcasing your brand as one of the best in the business.

The deadline for entries is 5 September. A panel of senior industry peers will then congregate for the judging event later that month.

Do not leave this until the last minute; this will be one of the most important activities you undertake this year, so nominate yourself, a colleague and / or your company today! Visit www.apea.org.uk to access all the details you need to complete your online entry.

If you would prefer to make a hard copy entry form, contact APEA Business Manager, Jane Mardell at admin@apea.org.uk. Please ensure your email specifies the award category (or categories) you wish to enter so the appropriate form can be emailed to you.

*Working award titles as of 3 April 2012

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APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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Exhibition Conference Aw a rd s D i n n e r

APEA Live 2012: Exhibition & Conference

8 NOVEMBER 2012

RICOH ARENA COVENTRY

The daytime elements of APEA Live provide an unparalleled trade experience, where the industry’s senior decisionmakers congregate to network with peers and prospects, and discover the latest product developments and market trends.

The Exhibition: stay on the pulse of your market...

This is the specialist show for petroleum related installation and industry services. A unique collection of leading brands showcasing their latest products to an influential audience.

Exhibitors already confirmed (at 3 April 2012):

ARTICLES

Adler & Allan/E&S Environmental Services APEA Berrys Technologies Car Wash UK CSD Sealing Systems Book yo ur stand DP Tanks today!

Contac Elaflex t R a j Jadeja: Fairbanks T 01442 289928 Franklin Fueling Systems M 07957 Global-MSI 336 556 KPS UK E Raj@f 2fevent LCM Environmental s.co.uk Ledbury Welding LIS (western) Petrocom PFS Fueltec Pumpwatch Scheidt & Bachmann Suresite Tanknology Terence Barker Tokheim

The Conference: all about you and your business...

Dedicated to anyone who wants to make sure their business is in synergy with their industry. The Conference, sponsored by Franklin Fueling Systems, debates the leading issues, led by internationally recognised speakers.

Programme to be announced shortly at www.apea.org.uk.

APEA Live 2012: attendee rates Exhibition

Conference

FREE

£40 + VAT

APEA members

£80 + VAT

non-members

£125 + VAT

Individual ticket

Price inclusive of lunch and refreshments Awards Dinner

£1,335 + VAT

Table of 12

To make an online booking and for information on booking accommodation, visit www.apea.org.uk and follow the ‘APEA Live 2012’ link from the homepage.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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Exhibition Conference Aw a rd s D i n n e r

8 NOVEMBER 2012

RICOH ARENA COVENTRY

APEA Live 2012: Exhibitor & Sponsorship opportunities Engage your brand with the most influential industry players.

Your customers are bombarded with thousands and thousands of advertising messages every single day. This is a problem; achieving marketing penetration over this ever growing advertising noise is getting increasingly difficult.

APEA Live’s sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities provide unique opportunities for you to deliver brand memories and drive sales, within a ‘permission marketing’ environment.

Leading marketers and sales execs understand live platforms create strong brand recognition and customer affinity, placing them above their competitors and driving company profits.

If you are serious about your industry, do not miss this unique chance to sell to:

• • • • • •

Forecourt owners (oil, retail, group and individual) Product / service suppliers Engineers Contractors Regulators Health & Safety Executives

• • • • • •

Sell your products and build your pipelines Develop lucrative relationships with key decision-makers and budget holders Maximise brand awareness; create emotional commitments within a multi-sensory environment Launch and showcase new products Undertake valuable market research Be a visible solution

A B C D

3x2m 3x2m 3x4m 3x4m

Our high value sponsorship and exhibition stand packages provide unbeatable live platforms to…

ARTICLES

Exhibitor opportunities: the Exhibition delivers 4 superb stand options space only stand shell scheme stand space only stand shell scheme stand

View show floorplan at www.apea.org.uk

£1,045 £1,310 £1,880 £2,080

+ + + +

VAT VAT VAT VAT

Sponsorship opportunities

There is no better way to ensure your brand is embedded within the success of this rapidly expanding event. All our high value, integrated sponsorship packages provide exceptional brand exposure and deliver significant awareness.

Event sponsor packages include: • • • • • •

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Awards Dinner Headline Sponsor Awards Dinner Entertainment Sponsor Awards Category Sponsor Pre-Dinner Drinks Reception Sponsor Exhibition Headline Sponsor Showguide Sponsor

To discuss your perfect stand and sponsor

package, contact Raj Jadeja at F2F Events Ltd today!

T

01442 289928

E

Raj@f2fevents.co.uk

M

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

07957 336 556

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Interview with Jean Fincken, Petroleum Inspector at London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority

By Brian Baker

Jean Fincken has served a number of years within the Petroleum Section of the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) and in recent years has taken on, together with Ray Blake ( the Head of Petroleum) , the lead within her Authority on the Government’s Primary Authority Partnerships Scheme (PAPS). This has meant quite a change in her role as an inspector, something I was able to talk to her about when I caught up with her recently.

ARTICLES

Jean, as with all other interviews in this series, we need to know how you became a petroleum inspector within the London Fire Brigade. Is it something you always wanted to do or did you come by the role by accident?

I have to admit that the course of my entire working life as been accidental. I left school on a whim half way through my ‘A’ levels on an offer of a permanent post following a holiday job, knowing only that I certainly never wanted to work in an office but no idea of what I did want to do. Having journeyed through the NHS and Civil Service, via a short detour into the world of selfemployment, I fancied a “local job” prior, I naively thought, to heading for the role of “full time housewife” and got an admin job in the local fire safety office. Some seven years on and bored with issuing fire certificates & petroleum licenses a friend (Steph Crow, then the Senior Petroleum Officer at the same office) suggested I tried for a PI vacancy as a bit of a change. It sounded really interesting and very much to my amazement I got the job. Thus I have now been trundling around the petrol stations of various parts of London for what is coming up to 15 years (and only occasionally hankering for that lost role of “full time housewife”) 46

I do not wish to put a sexist spin but within the downstream industry years ago there were very few women undertaking such a role, though happily, more and more women are taking on the role of a petroleum officer. How did you see it in your early days?

Certainly when I started there were only two female PI’s, myself & Steph, who by the time I was in training had become the Deputy Head of Petroleum. So once I was out and about it was always easy to identify which PI had visited, the moment the word “she” cropped up on the building sites it was certain I’d have been the only female on site. However the main point of discussion for most of the people I met was not the oddity of being a female PI but the fact that there was a PI on site at all as it was always noted that the London PI’s were always much more “high profile” than in other areas of the country, perhaps because back then there were so many of us. Luckily I never found being in the minority an issue and quite like working in a “man’s world” and enjoy the banter once you’ve been accepted as “one of the boys” and everyone was happy to treat me the same as my male colleagues. That said I’d be lying if I said there was never a moment of trepidation at wandering through the old railway arches to seek out a spray shop licensee and wondering quite what I’d let myself in for. But although some of the characters I met back then were a bit taken aback at having to deal with a woman, I’ve never been in a situation where it has been a persistent problem (well not that I noticed, you’d have to ask those I’ve dealt with over the years if they saw it as a problem), even the great big guard dog at those railway arches turned out to be a big softie

once I’d got to know him and my heart rate returned to normal!!!

It’s always had that “macho” feel to it in a male dominated industry but do you feel the tide is turning and it is changing in that aspect?

Oh it was very much so. Over the years, especially through doing the APEA training, I’ve met quite a number of female PI’s and I think that as other authorities merge the role of PI with other roles in Environmental Health, Trading Standards etc. there are likely to be even more. On the forecourt side too I meet far more females in a variety of roles such as site managers/Area managers, Environmental surveying/Project Management and even the occasional maintenance contractor too! I don’t ever see the industry not being “male dominated” but I certainly think that the percentages are changing and hopefully that is not a bad thing but I’ll leave that to my male colleagues to decide.

Tell us what it was like when you were let loose on your own in the capital, which does have some unusual and difficult sites to deal with, especially when dealing with a major underground railway network.

Tell us how you learned your skills?

A bit scary to start if I’m honest and there are still days when I have that nagging feeling that I’ll be ‘caught out as an imposter’ but on the whole I can say that right from the start I’ve really enjoyed the work and the continual variety and changes help to ensure that I never get the chance to be bored for long and travelling all over London is a bonus. If all else fails I think we could all take to a second career as a mini

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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am still constantly seeking the advice of all the other inspectors. In more recent times we have all undertaken the BTEC qualification that was introduced by a former senior inspector, Bryan Catcheside, which has proved useful in confirming competence, whenever we are called on to do so.

Throughout the years I have found that 99% of those I meet in the industry are keen to impart their knowledge, each being aware that everyone has to start somewhere and that all have something to bring to a situation/incident drawn from their previous experience. Hopefully, this will long continue, and it’s one of the bonuses of meeting others from the industry at APEA branch meetings and the training venues – even when I’m on the “trainer” side of the table I still learn something on every course/meeting that I attend.

During your years as a petroleum inspector what are the main changes that you have seen and are they, in your opinion, for the better?

One of the main changes was the change in the type of premises we licensed i.e. now we deal almost exclusively with PFS’s rather than all the sprayshops and numerous manufacturing businesses using petroleum that made the job so varied. I had a piano manufacturer and a factory making ballet shoes on my patch at one time and I must say that I miss the variety and opportunity to get to know more about these different businesses.

The introduction of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations in 2002 was a major change in the way we worked moving from the compliance with prescriptive licence conditions to the more risk assessed basis. This has made the job both more interesting and more challenging as an inspector now that we cannot just rely on ticking off a list of “requirements” but must understand the working of the industry and the legislation and be able to judge if the operators interpretation of the legislation is adequate, and if not, negotiate on how better compliance can be achieved. As I said to a colleague recently, we are less inspectors and

more negotiators these days and that’s no bad thing as it encourages new ideas and solutions to new and old problems.

Of late the UK government have favoured Partnership Schemes and in the aspect of Petroleum Enforcement, the Primary Authority Partnership (PAPs). Can you explain what they are and how they are supposed to work, particularly with other petroleum licensing authorities involved?

OK, the basis of the scheme is that it aims to give any business that trades across different licensing authority areas, for the range of legislation that is covered by the partnerships, the opportunity to get good robust advice from one licensing authority which they can use at all their premises so as to be sure of achieving compliance and which allows them to grow and implement procedures across their business without getting conflicting and confusing requirements from differing authorities. The scheme allows the partner authority (known as the Primary Authority) to issue advice to the business (known as Primary Authority Advice) and to block proposed Enforcement Action by other authorities in certain circumstances.

There is also provision for the Primary Authority to produce an Inspection Plan to guide other authority’s officers to inspect certain areas (or not to look at certain areas) if they choose to visit one of the business’ premises.

These are not intended to be used in every partnership and there are none for petroleum partnerships yet.

We are looking into the introduction of one for one of our partners in the near future.

One feature of the partnerships that has caused much discussion is that the Primary Authority can block enforcement action by other enforcing authorities. This is only possible if the Primary Authority has already given the business advice on the relevant issue and the business has been following that advice. However it is hoped that instances of this will be few and far between as the main idea is that when there are issues the two authorities will be able to resolve it via discussion “professional to

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

47

ARTICLES

cab driver – all directions via the nearest filling station rather than pub of course!

As you say there are some unusual sites in London a lot of which are in the centre where we have underground tanks sitting between the tube network & underground car park with a hotel over the canopy for good measure. I’m glad to say most of those are on Audrey’s area – She certainly has a varied patch! But in my areas I’ve had petrol dispensers & tanks within feet of the main runways at Heathrow airport, and some next door to high speed railway lines. One of my earliest experiences was when a small site not far from Regents Park (now long gone) was found to be ‘losing’ product and there was a gathering of contractors and hierarchy from the oil company deciding what to do to avoid the product getting down onto a nearby railway cutting and dealing with the occupants of some rather fashionable basement residence being moved out while the ‘smell’ & likelihood of fuel in their drainage was dealt with. This was certainly a sharp learning curve but everyone had the same goal and I quickly found that with a bit of discussion and a ‘common sense’ approach we all arrived at the ‘right’ conclusion. Unfortunately the more quirky sites are the ones that have tended to close down as the industry gets more difficult for the independent. One of my favourites was a man who was keeping the site going in memory of his dad. It had a hand pump and a yard of sand in lieu of drainage. He only ever used it to fill the car he used as a funeral car service and when I did an inspection we spent most of the time in his Mum’s kitchen with a cup of tea and tips on how to boil beetroot in the microwave!

How have I learned my skills? – Well I’m still learning, there is always a new idea or development that keeps you on your toes but to start with, there was a training programme with Jamie Thompson & Steph Crow at our headquarters and then several months of “shadowing” the other inspectors before I was let loose on my own patch. Apart from that I have been on every APEA course available and

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professional” more easily than previous discussions between business and enforcers.

In the long term I think the schemes will benefit all parties as the businesses will be able to get the guidance they need on compliance from one source and build up a good working relationship with that authority. This will result in their sites being well run and compliant which in turn will make the life of the various enforcing officers a little easier as they will build up a confidence in the businesses and will be able to use their limited resources (we know that all authorities will be facing restriction in budgets and resources over the next few years) to focus on the areas of highest risk. Also it should result in more consistent enforcement and authorities with less experienced officers will be able to benefit from the knowledge and experience of authorities with a more experienced inspectorate.

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What if the local petroleum licensing authority disagrees with you and wishes to apply something else? How is the dispute resolved?

The Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO), the body that oversees the partnerships, (soon to have a name change to the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO)) has a system for consultation throughout the proposed enforcement action process, including a mechanism for dealing with disputes. To date this dispute resolution system has not been used by any partnership for any legislation. There is an initial consultation period of 5 working days for the Primary Authority to decide if there are grounds for them to block the enforcement action or indeed support it if it is warranted. It is the intention of the LBRO and I believe most of the parties entering into a PAP, that this is the time when any differences of opinion can be discussed and amicably agreed/resolved, without the need to actually resort to formal action which is costly in time and money to all sides. Then, if the PA does not block the action or makes no response there is a 10 day consultation with the business to allow them to refer the matter to the LBRO if they feel their partner has not 48

acted in their best interest. Should the business or the other enforcing authority refer the issue to the LBRO then they have 28 days to reach a decision, during which time they can consult with the relevant National Bodies for expert advice.

Exactly who does have a PAP with the LFEPA and how long does each one stay in force?

Currently we have seven partnerships, these are with; Asda, John Lewis Partnership (Waitrose), Motor Fuels Ltd, Park Garage Group PLC, Sainsbury’s, Shell and Snax 24.

Each partnership signs an agreement which is then reviewed on an annual basis with either side being able to withdraw if they so desire by notifying the other. There is no set period for the partnerships and so if both sides are content they will continue to roll on year on year.

Are they working?

What advantages do you see in any operator signing up to a PAP having?

Yes I believe they are working and current interest seems to indicate that others may be seeing the advantage now, where they may not have done before.

Each partnership is different giving the partners the possibility of different ‘advantages’ according to their needs. For example a smaller operator may want their Primary Authority partner to review their policies and procedures or to look closely at their training material and give them advice on how they can improve these, where a larger organisation may have all of this under control already but see an advantage in robust advice in the implementation of new innovations or the roll out of new equipment or processes across all of their sites.

Across the board though I would say that all see the benefit of getting consistent advice and that by ensuring their operations are compliant, a consequent reduction in enforcement action and by having confidence that all required documentation is available they have less repeated requests from enforcers for copies of missing documents resulting in a saving on time and money on all sides.

One point I would like to make at

this point is that it has been raised that some think these partnerships are a way of a business getting an enforcing authority “on their side” to ward off all enforcement action and we have certainly made it clear to everyone we have discussed the partnerships with that this in certainly not the case.

Should the enforcement action be warranted it would be the duty of the Primary Authority to support the enforcing authority and to advise the business on how to achieve compliance but they would certainly not block any warranted enforcement action. Also should it be justified and necessary the Primary Authority is permitted to, and would, prosecute one of its own partners.

Are there any fees involved? How are these calculated?

The scheme allows for the Primary Authority to recover its costs but not to make a profit. There is no set way for doing this although many of the other partnerships work on an hourly rate system invoiced as and when.

There are I believe some partnerships where there are no fees charged but how long they will be able to continue so to do with the pressures on all authorities to cut costs I could not say. The London Fire Brigade made it clear when agreeing that we could offer the service but that Londoners could not be expected to be burdened with the cost of services that would have benefits beyond London. From the outset we knew that we would, hopefully, be entering into multiple partnerships and that some work undertaken would benefit more than one partner and so set out to work out how we could best calculate a fee that would be fair to all and that would not be a nightmare to administer (for both sides).

Thus after much consideration and consultation with the initial partners we arrived at our current arrangement of charging an annual fee based on the number of sites each of the businesses has that are covered by the partnership.

There would also be additional charges for any expenses incurred in additional work such as extra meeting/specific projects or travelling to sites outside the London area. The ‘per site’ fee is also reviewed annually.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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ARTICLES

OK back to basics, you must have had a strange or funny incident to deal with. What tops your particular league?

I think most of the perplexing incidents are always the ones that come under the heading of “customer complaints”. Some of these are amusing/bizarre and sometimes infuriating. Over the course of many weeks I became a regular visitor to one of my sites as a result of reports of a “smell of petrol” in a neighbouring cinema that after every investigation we could think of on the site, several visits from operational crews on out of hours calls, and numerous visits to the cinema by me (no chance ever to catch a film though!) the offending smell was eventually blamed on a collapse of the drainage in the toilets!!

Others are characters such as the concerned citizen who used to watch the adjacent petrol station from his first floor flat via binoculars and would then phone me to tell me of every misdemeanour he witnessed, from people walking by smoking to cabbies playing their radios too loud! It all goes to make the job interesting.

As with most of these series of Interviews, if you could say, what is the best thing that has been introduced on a petrol filling station in the last 20 years?

It’s always hard to pick just one thing, it’s usually a combination, but the whole advancement of IT has to be the biggest change and it will come as a surprise to all who know

me as a complete technophobe to say this but the idea that so much can be monitored and cross referenced and sometimes even resolved by people on the other side of the world is truly magical…when it works! One such innovation in that line that has benefited so many is the various improvements in wetstock reconciliation calculation & recording, which has certainly made this inspector’s job easier – rarely do I have to plough through all those hand written dip records!!

What is your biggest gripe, because we all have one?

Complacency. I guess we are all a little guilty of it in one respect or another but on the filling stations the attitude that someone else will have “sorted it out” or the “I just signed the docket/tick the check sheet” attitude really infuriates me. I’m sure there will be lots of colleagues reading this that will have had the experience of seeing the document that says something has been checked when five minutes later on the forecourt it is evident that it clearly has not been done and hasn’t had any attention for some considerable time be it blocked drainage channels/empty sand buckets/storage where it shouldn’t be. All those little things that can be easily resolved but that can contribute to a much bigger problem if ignored. There is no point in installing all the innovations that abound in this industry if they are not looked after and maintained once they are in place. There, I feel better for that little rant!

ExploZero® – The Ultimate Explosion Protection System for your Filling Station

By Albert Fürst, FAF - Fürst and Fürst GesbR

The Austrian company FAF – Fürst and Fürst GesbR introduced a new and innovative security technology which dramatically reduces the explosion risks at filling stations.

Facilities which are equipped with ExploZero cannot explode!

Your filling station is home to many 50

sources of danger involving explosive vapours. Be it cable conduits, some shafts, filling shafts or pump shafts, ExploZero optimally adapts to any environment.

FAF was founded by brothers Albert and Florian Fürst in 2009.

FAF holds exclusive patent and

Now you are not at work all the time, how does Jean Fincken relax, what interests do you have outside the job?

Outside the job I’m happy in the role of housewife and dog owner, enjoying any chance of a walk in the country especially if a pub lunch is included. Relaxation is something that my husband, who loves to “chill”, tells me I am incapable of but give me a good book and a supply of tea (and the odd slice of cake!) and you won’t get a peep out of me for hours. Other than reading a good “whodunit” I love the theatre and going to see live music & comedy when I get the chance. Given the opportunity travel is a big interest too but with two large hounds (loud and hairy German Shepherds) we are currently confined to the UK, (far too soft to leave them in a kennels!) but there is still a lot of the UK that all four of us are yet to explore and nothing beats counting the days ‘til the next holiday! Also it makes us enjoy the “in between dogs” trips abroad all the more too. We’ve been to Kenya and Italy in the recent past and are busy creating a long list for the next adventure though hopefully it won’t be for a few years yet as although our current hounds are ten we hope to have them for a good few years yet.

Well I have to end it there. Thanks for taking time out to talk to me and every success for the future.

manufacturing rights for the product ExploZero.

The system ExploZero is the most advanced explosion protecting system for liquid and gaseous mediums. The system combines maximum safety

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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The principle ExploZero may not look very impressive, but in fact, it is very hightech. The system is made up of thousands of superfine intertwining synthetic threads that create miniscule spaces which are too small for an explosion to unleash a devastating chain reaction.

Additionally, the scientifically developed materials used in the brushes contribute to explosion protection.

• The Matrix System design prevents explosion flashovers!

• Explosions cannot unfold their devastating effects!

The danger Underground chambers and offset fills involve special dangers at filling stations.

If connectors are inappropriately handled or leak, petrol fumes can escape. Escaped petrol fumes, which are heavier than air, collect at the bottom of the shafts and in the presence of an ignition source (indirect lighting, fire,...) those petrol fumes if ignited will cause explosions.

Several accidents have been observed in the last few years because of unsecured shafts.

The solution The physical-technical Bundesanstalt Braunschweig (Federal Institute in Brunswick) certifies that ExploZero has outstanding properties for

protection from explosions. Thus, ExploZero is the first explosion protection for filling stations that is also conformant with the latest comprehensive regulations for the storage of flammable fluids.

For the last few years, a powerful obligation has been in force with regard to safety, namely the EU Directives ATEX95 and ATEX 137 which regulate measures at workplaces with a danger of explosion – measures that are scrupulously checked by government authorities, the fire department and petroleum inspectorates.

Employers are required to evaluate their working places regarding the dangers of explosions and create documents on how these dangers will be avoided.

A non compliant implementation of the regulation can lead to a complete shut down of the facility !

The EU type examination certificate of ExploZero guarantees that you will use the optimum

solution. Tested quality that gives you a maximum of safety even under extreme conditions.

FAF commissioned three independent institutes to determine the effects of ExploZero.

• TÜV, Austria • Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Brunswick Germany • IBExU – Institut Sicherheitstechnik, Germany

für

The results speak for themselves…

ExploZero passed all the tests and received an international release !

Advantages of ExploZero Compared to conventional sand or gravel, ExploZero saves time and money.

The super light packs can be installed in the shaft up to 4 times faster. Removing them for service access is easily 50 times faster. The

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

51

ARTICLES

with easy handling.

The ExploZero system consists of non flammable synthetic fibres which are drilled into cylindrical brush elements. Besides synthetic fibres, high temperature materials can be used if needed.

The single brushes are fixed together into what we call “system packs”.

These system packs guarantee rapid filling of large spaces in an extremely short space of time. The system packs can be produced in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit your needs. The brush elements are flexible and can fit into every imaginable environment. Individual brushes reliably secure the tightest corners and sensitive fittings.

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material is completely wear and corrosion proof. In cold weather, ExploZero is a step ahead of it's competitors since it won't freeze.

Even cleaning is easy. Simply use a steam jet pressure washer and ExploZero is as good as new – there are no costs for the disposal of contaminated filling materials.

Overview of further advantages • Fulfils the requirements of all latest laws • Maintenance costs are reduced to a minimum • Inspections, repairs and maintenance activities can be done within a short time.

• No damage to fittings, measuring

instruments or cables.

• No corrosion caused through bounded humidity.

• Compatible with gaseous mediums.

liquid

and

• 100% abrasion proof.

• No disposal costs if fuel leaks out • Calculable amortization through long life guarantee.

• Environmentally friendly.

Since the official release in summer 2009, dozens of filling stations in Austria and many more in the European Union use ExploZero as their explosion protection system.

Ask the Experts

ARTICLES

I have heard that there is a tank on the market that can be used underground known as a “Composite” Tank. I have heard that this provides the best solution against corrosion. What is a “Composite Tank” and how come we do not hear of more of these types of underground tanks?

Composite Tanks are tanks made of differing materials one on the outside the other on the inside of a double wall tank.

In the 1970’s we had steel tanks with PE jackets (see photo) but in more recent years we have seen other composite tanks using steel as the inner tank and GRP as the outer skin.

These tanks are successfully used in the US and other parts of the world but in the UK there have been only a few installed.

A good example of the technology is the Permatank® which is made all over the world 52

under licence from the steel tank institute (www.steeltank.com). One company in Denmark called Roug made a large number of Permatanks and they were installed in northern Europe and also received approval for use in the London area. The inner steel tank being manufactured to EN 12285-1 and the outer tank being acceptable to EN 13160-7.

Other examples were a tank manufacturer in Portugal and an APEA member in Egypt has just started to build Permatanks for the African market. I am not aware of any UK based manufacturer who has made composite tanks for the petroleum industry and that is probably why we have not seen many installed in this country.

With steel inside the tank providing structural strength and GRP on the outer skin providing good resistance to corrosion their popularity with engineers is growing and with the

Further applications Although ExploZero was designed for the requirements at filling stations, there are many further civil and military applications. By the end of 2011, FAF introduced a modified system for the protection of mobile fuel stations. Mobile fuel stations are used e.g. at construction sites or at agricultural sites. The size of the tanks vary from 5 to 150 gallons.

For that application, the ExploZero system is directly placed in the tank itself.

FAF is currently looking for distribution partners in the European Union.

For further product information’s please contact FAF: albert.fuerst@f-a-f.at, +43 69917097342

class 1 leak detection systems fitted they meet all the safety and environmental concerns for storing fuel.

The delivery hose on a pump has a restriction in length. Why is this? Is there a standard that delivery hoses are supposed to meet?

All hoses should meet the following standards:EN 1360 for single delivery hose and EN 13483 for vapour recovery hoses for measured fuel dispensing systems.

The first restriction in length concerns safety.

The minimum distance a dispenser should be situated from the public way is 4m and this is determined by

An unacceptable hose!

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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hazard zones, therefore a dispenser at 4m from the public way with a 5m hose would produce a hazard.

Most hoses on many of the older dispensers would be around 3.6m.

Dispensers are often designed with longer hoses to enable customers to fill on the far side of the vehicle and also some designs having retractable hoses require a longer hose which now means that the site designer must subject them to a risk assessment to ensure the larger hazard zones produced by the longer hose do not present a safety problem.

Secondly there can also be a measurement issue, as longer hoses cause dilation of the hose which can affect the amount being delivered at the nozzle. Such dispensers must conform to the Measurement Instruments Directive (MID) . If you have any doubts contact the manufacturer.

Jamie Thompson Jamie Thompson Associates

ARTICLES

I have inspected a petrol filling station where one of the lights on the underside of the canopy was found not working. Should I insist it is repaired or replaced?

The issue with repairs to canopy lights is that in most cases, a scaffold tower is required due to the working at height. Although unwritten, the cardinal rule is that when about 25% of the lights have failed or 3 lights are not working then it is reasonable to assume that the ability to read clearly any pump instructions on operating dispensing equipment or the capability to read safety and/or warning notices is likely to be impaired thus increasing risks on the forecourt. There is no specific lux level but the EN standards quoted in the Blue Book should help.

It is at this point that it is reasonable to request the licensee to repair or replace failed canopy lights. It is expected as part of the routine Electrical Test Certificate that canopy lights are checked to see if they are working. Many sites however have their canopy lights on a time/light sensor that operates when daylight lighting falls, for which there should be an override switch in the shop where the electrical installation is housed.

54

This is why these lights should be checked as petroleum officers predominantly inspect during daylight hours only. Perhaps there should be more “out of hours” inspections!

Brian Baker Brian Baker & Associates How does a Shear Valve work on an Autogas/LPG Dispenser?

All LPG dispensers have a flow and return connection. Because LPG is a liquefied gas the system is always under pressure. Should a dispenser be hit or subjected to other external forces shear couplings are fitted between the dispenser base frame and the dispenser. These are designed to part (shear) when any abnormal external loads are applied.

The installation requires the correct installation with the bottom half secured to the base frame and preferably the top secured to the dispenser.

Some dispensers, e.g. Tokheim are supplied complete with shear couplings but the majority require these to be fitted during installation.

There are two basic designs available but the writer prefers the Risbridger design as this will seal even if there is only a partial break.

The coupling is uni-directional so during installation it is important that the direction of flow is checked. The internal valve is held open by a needle onto a ball bearing; as soon as there is any displacement then the point moves off the ball and the internal valve closes.

The design of the overall installation must take into account

Shear couplings on a Tokheim dispenser.

that the coupling may shear so suitable purge/bleed valves should be included in the system as the coupling cannot be reconnected.

In addition whilst the shear valves give protection against impact this does not mean that suitable emergency shut off valves (ROSOVs – Remotely Operated Shut Off Valves) do not need to be fitted. The installation design must take into account that DSEAR requires “in the event of the operation of the emergency shut down system any accumulated energy must be dissipated as quickly as possible or isolated so it no longer constitutes a hazard.” As LPG is a liquefied gas the energy cannot be dissipated so therefore needs to be isolated.

On some dispensers and dispensing systems the shear valve is also used on the hoses to the vehicles to protect the dispenser in the event of someone driving off whilst still connected with the nozzle.

Richard Wigfull John Wigfull & Co Ltd

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

The wiring I see either has a black or orange plastic outer sleeve. What type of cabling is this and does it comply to any standards?

Cables can really come in any colour you wish to purchase or specify. However if we are speaking “generally” for forecourts and dispenser cables then “Black” coloured cable sheaths would normally be what we call “armoured” as they have integral braid or steel wire protection to help protect from damage to the integral conductors which are copper if cable conductor is smaller than 16mm². They will comply with either BS6436, BS5467, BS6724, or BS7211 all as per 14.9.10 of the 3rd Edition of the “Blue Book” and the cable sheath should be resistant to hydrocarbons and will be terminated using shrouded Ex certified glands that suit the explosion protection concept of the enclosure.

The “Orange” cables are mineral insulated copper sheathed cable that should comply with BSEN 607021 with again shrouded and appropriate Ex certified glands.

The mineral cables although more expensive are more robust and perhaps not as common now, can operate safely during fires and where they have been subject to fire can often be reused whereas the armoured cables that are only fire resistant would normally have to be replaced. With underground cable ducts the mineral cables due to their construction take up far less space as they are far smaller in size so some reduction in ductwork may be realised. Also with the mineral cables they can carry more electric current then the armoured cables so this again can make terminations far simpler when you have long cable runs especially where you have submersible pumps. With limited space to terminate within dispenser housings the mineral cables do give far greater flexibility than armour for the installing technicians, but there is a cost difference between the two types. As long as the appropriate types are selected and terminated correctly in accordance with the 3rd Edition of the “Blue Book” and any specific detail from the cable/gland manufacturer then this will be satisfactory.

As a Petroleum Officer, I have been taught to arrange to have pump covers removed to examine the pump internals and the electrical aspects inside the dispenser. What exactly am I looking for and as a lay person, what should I be reporting on?

Good to read that the enforcement officers are taking an interest in this aspect of the fuel dispenser. I hope firstly you have actually managed to obtain the keys for the dispenser covers!!! This is a common problem for those carrying out not only the electrical inspection but for other competent engineers needing access to the internal workings. All too often site staff do not know where to find these keys so some good house keeping by site staff would not go amiss.

Given that your time may be limited and detailed technical knowledge may be limited for certain enforcement officers you are really looking for signs that something “just isn’t right”; this will likely be a visual observation that there is something wrong. Having perhaps gauged an appreciation for how the licensee is operating the site from earlier parts of your inspection and dialogue with site staff, then it would be fair to assume that lack of attention to record keeping and the external appearance of the dispensers and if access keys were available could all indicate things will be good or bad.

Covers held on with tape or string would set a “tone” of things that may be standard. You would be looking for obvious things like the dispenser’s drip tray is intact at the base of the dispenser and where pipes and cables come through the bottom of the tray then the seals against fuel leaking from the tray into the under dispenser pit are intact and appear to be intact. Any holes in the bottom of the tray should be reported and dealt with.

Any signs of fuel present on the tray or leaking from pipework should be dealt with immediately, you may smell fuel and see a “Shimmer” as it turns to vapour leaving defective pipework or seals.

There are lots of cables internally and these come under the specification for that particular

make and model number BSEN13617-1 and the manufacturers own conformity paperwork would apply. For these cables, generally any signs of contact with moving parts or cables near moving parts, should be dealt with, cables not terminated within the cable gland correctly should all be fairly noticeable. However since this is the dispensers own wiring the type and size and colour of these could be numerous and checks would need to be made with the certification provided by the manufacturer. The cables that are part of the electrical installation will be those coming through the drip tray and would terminate in two possibly up to six separate junction boxes again depending on the make and model number of the dispenser, these cables providing power for the dispenser, data communication and possibly a speaker system located within the dispenser (remember these integral speakers, must be disconnected and not used in a site emergency situation). These cables should have some form of identification given its own ID Number for ease of maintenance and affixed on the outside of each cable. Terminations should be tight and a certified and appropriate “Ex” cable gland used in taking the cable into the junction box, again obvious signs of damage to the cable and/or gland, signs of slackness of the gland should all be reported. On the junction boxes themselves all fixing screws or fixing cover bolts should all be in place with none missing, they should all be tight and appear to be of the same type/manufacture. These junction boxes are provided by the manufacturer and fixed to the dispenser chassis, so any junction boxes that are not fixed and lying loose or perhaps only fixed to the chassis with one fixing should all be reported. I think these are obvious things for the enforcement officers should they be inside the dispensers there are obviously lots more items to be looked at by the competent electrical tester and dispenser technician and fitters.

Gareth Bourhill Consultant

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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What is Bulk Fuel Theft and What Solutions are Available?

by Gareth Jenkins, Fairbanks Environmental Ltd

ARTICLES

Fuel retailers and customers alike are seeing record prices for petrol and diesel and the current trend sees no signs of any price decreases. But one trend that is worrying retailers even more is the growing risk of fuel theft, not from ‘drive-offs’, but from thieves who steal the fuel once the site is closed and more audaciously whilst the site is still open. This ‘bulk fuel theft’ is being reported in nearly every county in the UK and by the time it is discovered it is often too late.

Many of us are aware that large volumes of fuel, if left unprotected, can be a target for thieves who look to sell the fuel on the black market.

Household heating oil tanks and red diesel tanks on farms have long been a target to those who are willing to break the law and seek a quick return. However, the trend towards forecourt theft has increased in the last two years particularly when you consider the large quantities of fuel that can be stored underground. The result has seen many retailers finding several thousand litres of fuel, mostly diesel, being pumped out of their tanks and into storage c o n t a i n e r s mounted on lowloaders or, in some cases, stolen fuel tankers.

Fuel

theft

“Diesel theft has reached almost

epidemic proportions in Cumbria.”

In another case reported by West Midlands Police, three men were jailed for a total of nearly nine years after admitting stealing over 150,000 litres in 20 separate incidents between 2010 – 2011. Detective Sergeant Maria Cook, from West Midlands Police CID, said: “We often deal with offenders who fill up their vehicle and drive away without paying – but this was fuel theft on a completely different scale.”

The thefts don’t always happen when the site is closed at night. Last year a retailer in the Midlands was targeted by thieves who visited the forecourt in the early evening shortly after a delivery and pumped out thousands of litres while the site was still trading. The HGV was driven by men wearing hi-viz vests so nobody noticed anything unusual. The vehicle was fitted with a high speed pump capable of pumping hundreds of litres a minute so the HGV soon moved off site with its modified trailer full of stolen fuel. (see graph below).

has

been making the

regional

and

national news. In

2011 the Telegraph newspaper and Sky News reported on the growing number of forecourt thefts in an

interview

with

the

RMI

which

followed the theft of over 30,000 litres from a supermarket in the

Midlands. A court case in Carlisle reported the judge saying that 56

With numerous other stories being passed around forecourt operators must wonder what they can do to prevent and detect fuel theft should it happen to them.

Preventing the theft to begin with is something that many industry suppliers have been focusing on

recently and various new products have come onto the market, ranging from fill-point cages, lockable man-hole covers and improved CCTV coverage. But these solutions come at a cost and evidence shows that some devices merely act as a short term deterrent before the thieves break and damage the new equipment. A better method of dealing with this is the use a detection system that triggers an alarm as and when fuel theft is detected.

Fairbanks’ Fuel Theft Detection system uses real-time data that is collected from the automated tank gauge and relayed back to its monitoring centre. The software looks for any decrease in fuel volume after the site has closed and when no transaction or pump activity is detected. For example: If a site closes at 11pm then the tank stock levels should remain static, until sales resume the following morning or there is a delivery of fuel taken over night. The real-time system needs to be able to accommodate small fluctuations in height depending on local conditions that may send vibrations through the ground or small changes due to temperature variation. When someone breaks into the tank man-hole or feeds a hose down the off-set fill pipe and starts pumping out fuel the system must detect this height change quickly without triggering a false alarm or leaving it too late.

If a change in height is detected then the real-time system sends an alert back to the monitoring centre with details of the site address and tank number. This simple message can then be relayed onto the forecourt operator as an SMS text message to their mobile phone or

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ARTICLES

onto a call centre who can telephone the operator directly.

Once the operator is aware that there is a problem on site then they can decide on the next course of action. Do they attend site to see for themselves what is going on? Do they have CCTV that they can view from home? Or do they alert the Police to send an Officer to site?

Either way the thieves would be unaware that their actions had triggered a chain of events.

However, some rural site operators may consider an additional alarm system that is triggered as soon as the initial theft alert is detected. This is linked to an audible alarm and strobe light fitted to the shop and connected to the real-time collection device. It switches on the alarms and light to inform the thieves that their actions have been detected. This method is proving popular as it is stopping the thieves

in their tracks and reducing the volume of fuel that they are trying to steal as well as deterring them from revisiting the site in the future.

Fairbanks, the wetstock management specialists, have developed this real-time detection system using their ibank module.

Bob Conlin

Petrol Station Numbers Continue to Drop

By Jamie Thompson Jamie Thompson and Associates This year the crisis caused by the

embarrassment. The high cost of fuel

has once again highlighted the

of fuel production rising in addition

threat of a road tanker drivers strike

as also a political issue with the cost

reduction in the number of service

to the taxation on vehicle fuels.

the more remote areas were once

petroleum inspector in London in the

fuel while those in the urban areas

licensed petrol stations in London

resultant publicity seems to have

are licensed there at present.

stations in the UK. Certainly those in

again wondering where to get their were queuing to fill up and the

caused 58

the

Government

some

I recall when I was appointed as a

1960’s there were around 4000

alone - a far cry from the 670 that

In recent years the growth industry

They believe that installing a detection system is more cost effective than the additional expense of prevention systems but see that retailers may wish to use both.

Bob Conlin, Managing Director of Fairbanks says “Real-time data analysis using ibank offers the retailer a whole host of information in addition to the leak detection service we already provide. Our Theft Detection service gives you the peace of mind you need knowing that a system is working 24 hours a day to benefit your business.

It also works should the thieves cut the probe wiring as ibank will see this as an attempted theft and trigger the alert for you.”

For more information contact Gareth Jenkins, Business Account Manager, on tel : 01695 51775 or mob: 07717 81362.

in retail petroleum has been decommissioning petrol stations and with land values high in certain areas there has been a drive to sell the land for housing, offices etc and as you drive through the country the sight of disused filling stations is quite common.

I am aware that in London for example Westminster Council has deemed that all existing petrol stations must remain as filling stations and planning will not be permitted for other usage. They fear with the high cost of land that developers will seek to change the use to offices or apartments for a higher return which would eventually mean that no filling stations would be available for

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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Another Closure

the residents, a fact that already exists in the City of London.

This year the figures supplied by

the market analyst Experian Catalist

show the number of filling stations

has dropped to 8,480 sites in the UK from almost 24,000, 30 years or around 40,000, 50 years ago - quite a drop.

One interesting statistic is that

Stage II Vapour Recovery Enhancement

the storage tanks divided by the rate of petrol dispensed to the

vehicle; the so-called V/L ratio. At present, Stage II system designers

By Ted Tiberi, ARID Technologies, Inc Stage II vapour recovery is an

effective

vapours

refueling

means

displaced of

of

capturing

during

vehicles

at

the

petrol

stations. In the UK and the rest of Europe, vacuum pumps located

within

dispensers

and

using

a

coaxial hose are widely deployed.

Liquid petrol flows in one direction

have tried to minimize the V/L ratio

from the storage tanks to the vehicle tank, and vapours displaced from

the vehicle tank flow in the opposite

direction from the vehicle tank back to the storage tanks.

while at the same time maximizing

vapour recovery efficiency at the

fuel nozzle/vehicle fill pipe interface.

The designers have tried to minimize

the V/L ratio since the ingestion of

air into the storage tank will reduce

The effectiveness and efficiency

the hydrocarbon concentration of

recovering vapours is dependent

(headspace) of the storage tanks.

of

these

types

of

systems

in

upon the rate of vapours returned to

the vapours stored within the ullage This dilution of ullage hydrocarbon

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

59

ARTICLES

there are around 89,000 refuelling

nozzles in use in the UK. With what is now seen as an ever increasing trend the growth of supermarket fuel sales is seen as a pointer for the way we seem to be moving, will we in the UK soon be as reliant on supermarkets for fuel as France?

There are 1316 supermarkets in the UK selling fuel which account for around 15% of the total number of forecourts. The sales of fuel however through those supermarkets are estimated to account for around 45% of the total UK fuel sales.

It is clear with the larger number of sites 7164 still being owned by the oil companies, large independent groups and a few family owned businesses they still have a big role to play.

They face some difficult challenges but with the larger shops and long opening hours many have taken over the role of the corner shop in our neighbourhoods and are an important part of the fuel retailing industry.

The Energy Institute has recently published the Retail Marketing Survey 2012 which goes much deeper into trends and forecourt retailers and this can be obtained from them direct at www.energyinst.org.

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present; with the magnitude of the fugitive emissions dependent upon

the degree of overpressure in the

tanks. Fugitive emissions represent leak sources anywhere within the

vapour containing space of the

storage tank system; for example tank top hardware, vapour piping,

vacuum pumps, etc. Fugitive leak

sources can be considered as a “pinhole” leak. Within the EU, a lot of

countries employ a p/v valve with a

Pressure profile showing impact of permeation operation

concentration is undesirable since

liquid phase petrol will evaporate to re-saturate the vapour space. The volume expansion of the petrol is

very large, as 1 litre of liquid petrol will evaporate to 520 litres of

petrol

vapour,

hydrocarbon

at

(pressure/vacuum) valves, the vent emissions occur when the maximum relief

pressure

of

the

valve

is

reached, and fugitive emissions will

occur whenever an overpressure is

+ 30 mbar overpressure setting; at

such a level, the driving force for

fugitive emissions will be quite large.

In addition, fugitive emissions, which

are released below the forecourt, will eventually cool, condense and

40%

concentration.

Due to this large expansion, the storage tanks will experience a large increase in vapour volume

ARTICLES

and

an

associated

pressure increase.

rapid

Even with V/L ratios close to 1.0

(or slightly below 1.0), significant

air dilution will occur at the open connection

comprising

the

nozzle/vehicle interface. Thus,

Stage II petrol station storage

tanks will operate at elevated pressures,

where

vent

and

with

p/v

fugitive emissions will occur. For

sites

equipped

Schematic diagram showing principle of operation

create

a

groundwater

contamination problem.

Some petrol dispensing sites in the

EU do not use a p/v valve, but rather an orifice plate with a 10 mm hole

located within the vent line, which

has a “rain cap” on the end of the pipe.

creates

This

an

approach “open

basically

system”

as

opposed to a “closed system”

possible with the p/v valve. At sites

using the orifice plate, the fugitive

emissions will be very low since no appreciable

Typical Installation

60

backpressure

is

maintained within the storage tank APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

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ullage space. However, the vent

Stage II is effective in recovering

on-going refueling operations. The

slight overpressure will immediately

during refueling. However, Stage II

established to maintain a very low

addition, sites using the orifice plate

vapours

emissions will be very high, as any be directed to the atmosphere. In

cannot be periodically checked

with leak decay testing or pressure “tightness”

tests.

Moreover,

the

benefits of Stage II vapour recovery are largely negated by simply

“redirecting” the petrol vapours

vapours displaced from vehicles

systems

recover

ambient

and air

storage

hydrocarbon

ambient

air.

ingested

tank

The

into

system

the

causes

evaporation of liquid petrol. For

petrol station sites using p/v valves

on their vent lines, the evaporated

product will cause a rapid increase

displaced from vehicle tanks to the

in pressure0 where vent and fugitive

the top of the vent pipe instead of

sites using an orifice plate with a 10

atmosphere; where the vapours exit interacting with the motorist in close

proximity to the fuel nozzle/vehicle fill pipe interface. The vapours are

emissions will result. For petrol station

mm hole within their vent lines, the evaporated product will not yield a high

back

pressure,

but

the

not really “recovered”, but just “re-

hydrocarbon vapour from storage

the

local

atmosphere. Also, on-going storage

To further analyze the situation

atmospheric pressure changes and

directed” with negative impacts for environment

and

surroundings.

with storage tank emissions; other

scenarios, which are unrelated to

tanks will be immediately vented to

These storage tanks losses are

ARTICLES

tanks. For example, atmospheric

A potential solution to the above

valve or orifice plate is employed.

pressure variations due to diurnal

problems is to provide a vapour

direct

communication with the combined

impact.

As

barometric

pressure is reduced, the storage tanks will be at a higher pressure, and this pressure differential will

processing

system

in

storage tank vapour space. The use of

such

selectively

a

system

separate

which air

can

from

provide driving force for emissions.

hydrocarbons will allow Stage II

barometric pressure may cause air

using elevated V/L ratios to increase

where the excess air will cause

nozzle/vehicle fuel tank interface.

On the opposite side, increases in

ingestion into the storage tanks; evaporation of liquid petrol and

subsequent emissions from the tank.

Also, Stage I tanker deliveries of

petrol will cause negative and

positive pressure excursions based on many variables; number of

compartments

simultaneously

system designers added flexibility in

vapour

processing

system.

In

addition, p/v valves can replace the orifice plates to transform the system

from

an

open

communication

system

with

in

the

the positive pressure generated can

any overpressure developed in the

the atmosphere.

pressure changes, Stage I bulk

62

to

the

with

worldwide.

500 In

capabilities

mentioned above, the PERMEATOR monitors and stores critical variables such as average storage tank

pressure, system run time, and other

parameters, which are used to

measure on-going fuel savings. The fuel

savings

generated

from

the vapours in a closed system

litres

dispensed.

Thus,

petrol

dispensing sites with even modest throughput

may

realize

the

economic benefit of PERMEATOR.

As added benefit, the PERMEATOR

system can send outgoing emails to

notify ARID Corporate data center about anomalies; for example a

vapour

leak

that

may

have

developed within the ullage space

of the storage tanks. In this manner, continuous

monitoring

provides

valuable insights into the operations

for Arid Technologies Inc., for the UK

V/L ratio is simply expelled by the

effectively contained. Moreover, the

So, to summarize the problem:

addition

proven,

installed,

The excess air ingested at the higher

petrol in storage tanks, and solar

cause emissions of hydrocarbons to

commercially

systems

of the petrol site.

atmosphere to a closed system,

impacts. At some point in a delivery,

PERMEATOR, and it is robust and

vapour recovery efficiency at the

loaded, temperature differential

between petrol in tanker truck and

ARID Technologies, Inc. is called

averages 2 litres saved per 1,000

present in all sites; whether a p/v

cycles or changing weather have a

The vapour processor offered by

bulk tanker delivery operations.

Stage II vapour recovery, will also

cause emissions from the storage

fugitive emissions from on-going

operations.

operation of PERMEATOR to contain

losses

due

average storage tank pressure, and

thereby reduce significantly the

to

tank

occur

vapour processor set points can be

where captured vapours can be

vapour processor will actuate during

storage tank; from atmospheric

tanker petrol delivery operations, or

The exclusive authorized agents

and Ireland is Petrocom Limited.

Petrocom provide sales, installation,

service

and

support

for

The

Permeator system across the UK and

Ireland.

Petrocom Limited Rainford Road Bickerstaffe,

Lancashire, L39 0HG. Tel: 0845 678 0790

E-mail: info@petrocom.com Photos supplied by:

ARID TECHNOLOGIES INC.

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Bulletin June 2012 USE THIS_Bulletin June 2012.qxd 23/05/2012 11:18 Page 63

The Southern branch winter meeting was held on Tuesday 7th February at STEAM in Swindon with 38 members and 10 other branch members/guests in attendance.

The Branch Chairman, Paul Reyner, welcomed everyone to the meeting, expressing his delight at such a well attended event.

The AGM was held at 10.00a.m., which resulted in the existing committee and auditors being reelected for another year.

The first speaker of the day was Ray Blake of the London Fire Brigade on the history, origins and correct methodology of foam filling tanks; Ray explained the differences in grades/strengths of foam available and their applications, and showed photographs of a decommissioned site that had voids in the foam backfill.

Samples of foam are being strength tested; results are not yet known.

The second speaker of the day was due to be Geoff Wheeler of Eurotank, but, due to illness, he was not able to attend; everyone present wished Geoff a speedy recovery.

The next presentation was by Derran Williams of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and Liam Bainbridge of LCM on tank gas freeing and removal.

Derran advised that tank removal has more advantages than leaving them in situ for several factors, including : • Will not affect future development foundations.

• No ground contamination.

Safety is paramount in removing fuel tanks, which is high on LCM’s agenda; this ethos is passed down to all company employees and adhered to rigidly.

Slides were shown, which showed that LCM barrier off the tank area with fencing and netting, to prevent migration of foam/other materials.

Liam advised that it is very difficult to remove 100% of the residual sludge/product in redundant tanks/pipework; it is essential to check all product in lines is drained back into the fuel tanks for the bottoming out process.

Tanks can be made gas free by purging with water, however, it is time consuming and the water then needs to be disposed of through the oil waste separator if discharge consent is given, otherwise disposal could be costly.

Water filled fuel usually tanks have the access hatch removed with a ripper tooth whilst using a constant water spray, to gain access for dewatering.

As the water level is reducing, the full length of the tank is cut, together with the sides, for safe removal and disposal of the redundant fuel tanks.

Any residual sludge in the Clive Drake bottom of the tanks is set aside for testing to establish its category for subsequent disposal.

Tanks are then taken out of the ground by use of a bucket machine, they will then have their dished ends removed before the remainder of the tank is folded prior to lifting onto a lorry for removal from site and safe disposal.

Slurry filled tanks are made safe and opened using the same process as above; when the fuel tanks are opened, it is generally found that the concrete slurry has cured leaving quite a considerable gap between the concrete and the inside of the fuel tank.

Foam filled fuel tanks also have the same preparation process; removing foam filled tanks could

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

result in the foam being blown away; the foam can cause mild irritation due to its formaldehyde content, so suitable PPE must be worn.

Derran and Liam concluded by showing a brief tank removal video of a site being decommissioned, which had both water and slurry filled tanks.

The third speaker of the day was Clive Drake of LIS on foam filling fuel tanks; Clive advised that LIS are the sole distributors/installers of Britfoam.

BRANCHES

Southern

The main problem encountered with foam filling tanks is the residual product being left in fuel tanks; Britfoam can absorb a small amount of fuel.

Foam is injected into the fuel tanks with samples being taken at various points, to measure its strength in situ.

Britfoam is a British product and contains 0.0006% of formaldehyde; one of its properties is that it is more solid than other foams, and as a result, it does not migrate as much when removed from tanks.

As man entry into fuel tanks is required to remove this foam, operatives regularly undergo medical checks, and receive constant training.

LIS are investigating the possibility of re-using Britfoam following 63

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Barry Jenner and Nigel Plumb

BRANCHES

removal from tanks.

The last presentation of the day was on slurry filling fuel tanks by Barry Jenner of Cameron Forecourt and Nigel Plumb of DP Fuel Tank Services.

Slurry filling is a permissible method of fuel tank decommissioning; either a 20:1 wet mix slurry (high slump) or foam entrained concrete.

Site preparation includes disconnecting all electrical supplies, draining down all pipework, and removing pumps/dispensers.

The fuel tanks can be inerted with either : • Water filling • Dry ice • Oxygen free nitrogen (inerts for 72 hours) • Nitrofoam Then all pipework is disconnected and capped.

Due to past experience, fuel tanks are measured prior to filling, to ensure that the fuel tank size is confirmed and that the appropriate amount of slurry is ordered.

Tanks are filled up to the access chambers, and tank lids left on, for ease of future location.

It is recommended to vibrate the mix when slurry filling tanks, to evenly distribute.

Barry and Nigel then showed slides 64

of correctly filled fuel tanks with slurry.

Following safe removal of the fuel tanks, the slurry can easily be broken down, and even re-used as backfill following the appropriate testing.

Slurry concrete delivery tickets provide independent verification that the tanks are correctly filled.

If the tank is ever removed from the ground, the slurry is more cost effectively removed/re-used.

Paul Reyner closed the meeting by again thanking everyone for their attendance, and advised the date of the next meeting as Thursday 12th July at the Hampshire Cricket Ground (the Rosebowl). Robin Lloyd Paul also asked all delegates to let any of the committee know if they for have any suggestions topics/venues for future branch meetings.

A two course lunch was then enjoyed by all, then entry into the Steam Museum.

Manor, which has become a favourite of Eastern Branch members. The event was well attended with excellent presentations from our speakers. Our thanks go to all the presenters who gave up their valuable time to come and talk to us. The regular update is a firm favourite at the Eastern Branch and really is a must to attend in order to keep you up to date. Our speaker was Jean Fincken – Petroleum Inspector, London Fire Brigade. Jean also is the current chair of the Eastern Branch.

Robin Lloyd - Biofuels and Technical Manager at Mabanaft, who are an independent fuel wholesaler, covered the topic “Biofuels - the obligation on a wholesaler.” Why we blend biofuels and a consideration of the major factors to balance: Economic, legal, quality and sustainability.

Geoff Lee - Managing Director, Cookson and Zinn (PTL) Limited talked about their Petrofast system

Sue Meadowcroft Branch Secretary

Eastern

The Eastern Branch met on Thursday February 2nd at Hanbury

Geoff Lee

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Bulletin June 2012 USE THIS_Bulletin June 2012.qxd 23/05/2012 11:19 Page 66

Clare Wenner

which has an integral canopy support.

Recent applications have incorporated a high level of factory pipe fit out. We then discussed a recent African project in detail. It’s good to see British manufacturing innovating and exporting!

Clare Wenner, Head of Renewable Transport at the Renewable Energy Association, talked about the Regulatory and policy environment.

She gave a fascinating insight into a regulator’s view and

the effect it has on investment in the UK and the UK’s ability to meet quality targets for alternative fuels.

Mike Melnyk, Strategic Certification Manager at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, talked about standards issues and experiences from home and abroad from a pump manufacturer’s view.

Richard Hakeem of Autogas Ltd talked about LPG in its liquid phase and pipe work inspection strategy and detailed examination of what is best practice, spotting major potential risks before any bursts or incidents.

Notes for members Please make a note in your diary that the next Eastern Branch training workshop, meeting and AGM will take place at our regular venue at Duxford Imperial War Museum

BRANCHES Mike Melnyk

Richard Hakeem

66

Thursday May 31st. We expect to have a good line up of speakers presenting interesting topics and issues. A detailed agenda will be posted to you as the speakers confirm and this will be updated on the calendar page on the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk.

In order for us to plan please do confirm your attendance on receipt of this. You may bring along a friend or colleagues. The cost is £35.00 per person and includes the APEA event, entry to Duxford museum, car parking, 2 x tea / coffee and a three course sit down lunch. You may pay by cash, cheque or bank transfer (see details below). This is an

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Bulletin June 2012 USE THIS_Bulletin June 2012.qxd 23/05/2012 11:19 Page 67

Anton Martiniussen Branch Secretary

North West

The North West branch held their annual AGM and Seminar at The Jubilee Suite in Haydock Racecourse on 15th March.

There was a very good attendance for the event where a new Branch Chairman (Mr John Crouchley of Oakmere Safety Ltd) and new Branch Secretary (Clive Drake of L.I.S Group) were elected.

AGM Committee members: John Crouchley Chairman

Clive Drake Secretary Louise Morgan Branch Representative Jean Algie Treasurer P Saunders Committee Member The opening speaker Mr Daniel Maxim of Lancashire County Council Weights and Measures updated everyone on new laws regarding the commissioning and testing of new pump meters and he also stated how to fit brand new and mixed named pumps into an existing system.

This was followed by a presentation of Tank Linings and EN13160 approvals from Mr Ian Bracken of Brulines, which sparked a lively but very informative debate amongst the audience.

Mr Jacque Williams of Berrys then introduced their latest MIDAS valve system, his subsequent demonstration of the equipment proved what an innovative product this is, pure genius.

The valve cleverly identifies and distinguishes between Petrol and Diesel at the delivery point, preventing Tanker Misfuelling. For those of you wondering what MIDAS stands for, it means Misfuel Identification & Avoidance System.

A buffet lunch was taken before the afternoon session began where Mr Gareth Bourhill of the APEA spoke of the growing number of “Electricians” from the construction industry carrying out work on Petroleum Forecourts and he warned all present to ensure to check their credentials prior to employing them.

A Q & A session followed before the meeting was closed.

Clive Drake Branch Secretary

Scotland

The Branch held its AGM and spring meeting at the Inchyra

Grange Hotel on the 7th March 2012. As with our previous AGM we incorporated our meeting with the Scottish Forecourt Show. This proved to be popular with members as it allowed those attending to enjoy the exhibition and speakers from the Scottish Forecourt Show.

There was a good turnout with 28 members attending.

Prior to the AGM there were discussions on how to take the branch forward in the coming year.

It was decided that the current committee were willing to continue on, however if there were other willing volunteers any position on the committee was available. The committee felt it would be beneficial to recruit new members to provide fresh ideas.

It was agreed that we would hold an autumn meeting in September.

The newly elected committee is as follows: Chairman Peter Lennon

BRANCHES

excellent venue and an occasion for networking, training and keeping yourself up to date on the current regulations, standards, technology and what’s going on in the industry.

If you would like to put yourself forward for any of the office / committee positions please let me know. We are always looking to add new blood to our events committee and it’s great fun and only needs your enthusiasm. Some years ago we visited the Elaflex Hiby factory in Plettenberg where the ZVA nozzle is manufactured. This is a state of the art production facility. I have been approached about the possibility of making another such visit during 2013. As before the visit would mean an overnight stay and costs are reasonable. Budgetary cost would indicate a cost of an air ticket and hotel accommodation. There is also a possibility to visit our sizeable hose production plant at Korbach nearby. This would require a second night stay. If you would like to participate in the trip would you please send me a message. If there are sufficient numbers expressing interest with intent to commit we will endeavour to facilitate a visit. i.e. a) one night visit or b) two nights. All APEA members are always most welcome to come to Eastern Branch events if there are things of interests to you including our visits. Contact elaflex@aol.com or phone/sms 07831595620.

Secretary Paul Devine Treasurer John Lafferty Branch Representative Ian Hillier Auditor Alan Hamilton Comittee members Jim Haston Alan Hamilton Gary Wemyss Peter Farmer.

We are delighted to welcome two new committee members on board this year; they are Anne Marie Spalding and Andy King.

As part of the APEA meeting members enjoyed a technical presentation from Ed Wheeler, Eurotank Environmental entitled ‘How and why tanks fail, and how they can be put back into service –

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

67

Bulletin June 2012 USE THIS_Bulletin June 2012.qxd 23/05/2012 11:19 Page 68

safely!’

Our thanks again go to Ed for his

continued support to our branch by

offering to share his vast experience

in dealing with the many varied issues associated with petroleum storage.

Peter Devine

Branch Secretary

Midlands

Nothing to report

Ireland

Nothing to report

Yorkshire & Humberside Nothing to report

North East

Nothing to report

BRANCHES

Branch Representative and Secretary Contact Details Eastern

Adrian Holyomes - Rep HYTEK GB LTD Delta House

Green Street, Elsenham

Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire

Tel: 01279 815600

email: adrian@hytekgb.com Anton Martiniussen - Sec ELAFLEX Ltd

Riverside House, Hoddesdon Herts EN11 0PA

Tel: 01992 452 950

Mob: 07831 595620

email: elaflex@aol.com North East

Mike Silmon - Rep and Sec W O Silmon Ltd

Industry Road, Heaton Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne & Wear NE6 5XB

Tel: 0191 224 0777

Fax: 0191 224 0707

email:

associationtreasurer@apea.org.uk 68

Midlands Rob Tunnicliff - Rep/Acting Sec 37 Victoria Park Road Tunstall Stoke on Trent ST6 6DX Tel: 07815 069846 email: rob.tunnicliff@stoke.gov.uk Helen Rounce - Sec Welcome Break 2 Vantage Court Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell Milton Keynes Bucks MK16 9EZ Tel: 07771834669 email:helen.rounce@welcomebrea k.co.uk North West Louise Morgan - Rep Petrocom Ltd Wash Farm (Office) Rainford Road, Bickerstaffe Lancashire L39 0HG Tel: +44 (0) 845 678 0790 Fax: +44 (0) 845 678 7820 Mobile: +44 (0) 7789 744281 email: louisemorgan@petrocom.co.uk Clive Drake - Sec LIS (North Western) Ltd 322 Haydock Lane Haydock Lane Industrial Estate St Helens Merseyside WA11 9UY Tel: 01942 722244 Mobile: 07834 540636 Fax: 01942 722266 email: clive@lisgroup.co.uk www.lisnorthwestern.co.uk Scotland Ian Hillier - Rep 26 Melrose Avenue Balgonie Estate Paisley PA2 9JA Tel: 01505 352004 email: i.hillier@ntlworld.com Paul Devine - Sec South Lanarkshire Council Consumer and Trading Standards North Stand, Cadzow Avenue Hamilton ML3 0LU Tel: 01698 476170 Fax: 01698 476180

Mobile: 07795 090903 email: paul.devine@southlanarkshire.gov.uk Southern Philip Monger - Rep Petrol Retailers Association Meadowside West EndSherbourne St John Basingstoke, Hants RG24 9LE Tel: 01256 850164 Fax: 01256 851273 email: phil.psac@gmail.com Sue Meadowcroft - Sec 1 Rock Cottage South Cornelly Bridgend CF33 4RN Tel: 07795 841891 email: sue@high-cross.com Ireland Killian Tallon - Rep Topaz Energy Ltd Topaz House Beech Hill, Clonskeagh Dublin 4, Ireland Tel: + 353 1202 8705 email: killian.tallon@topazenergy.ie Ronnie McArdle - Sec McArdle Doyle Limited Unit A8, Santry Business Park Swords Road Santry, Dublin 9 Ireland Tel: 00353 1 8423404 Fax: 00353 1 8423416 email: mail@mcardle-doyle.ie Yorkshire & Humberside Craig Brocklehurst - Rep Brulines Fuel Solutions The Former Post Office Station Road, Sowerby Bridge Halifax West Yorkshire HX6 3AA Tel: 07703336264 email: Craig.brocklehurst@vianetfs.com Michelle Brocklehurst - Sec Brulines Fuel Solutions The Former Post Office Station Road, Sowerby Bridge Halifax HX6 3AA Tel: 01422 833122 email: Michelle.brocklehurst@vianetfs.com

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

Bulletin June 2012 USE THIS_Bulletin June 2012.qxd 23/05/2012 11:19 Page 69

2012 Training Course Dates

12/13 June

Manchester

20/21 Nov

Luton

11/12 Sept

Wetstock Management 12 June 10 Sept 13 Nov

Glasgow

Petrol Filling Stations Risk Assessment, Audit and Inspection 12/13 June

Belfast

6/7 Nov

Manchester

2/3 Oct

Glasgow

22 May

Solihull

27 Nov

Luton

11 Sept

5 Sept

Manchester

Manchester

13 Sept

Luton

3 Oct

Solihull

20 Sept

Derby

23 May

Luton

19 Sept

Cardiff

14 Nov

Glasgow

20 June 10 Oct

Glasgow

Glasgow

Explosives and Fireworks

DSEAR

Electrical Installations An Awareness

Cardiff

5 Dec

Manchester Belfast

London

APEA Training Team

Brian Baker, Consultant

Jamie Thompson Independent Consultant

Gareth Bourhill Gareth Bourhill Consulting

Bob Conlin Director, Fairbanks Environmental

Richard Wigfull Consulting Engineer J. Wigfull & Co Ltd

Brian Humm Head of Petroleum, LFEPA Louise Morgan Managing Director, Petrocom

John Dallimore Consulting Engineer John Dallimore & Partners

Petrol Filling Stations – Enforcement Procedures An Awareness 4 June

10 Sept 12 Nov

Luton

Cardiff

Manchester

Forecourt LPG Installations 13 June

Solihull

7 Nov

Manchester

12 Sept

Glasgow

Petrol Filling Stations; Vapour Recovery Installations 14 June

Manchester

22 Nov

Luton

13 Sept

Glasgow

Kim Bennett Senior Environmental Health Officer Milton Keynes Council

TRAINING

Petrol Filling Stations Construction, Safety and Environmental Protection

Joe Maerz Operational Manager Rural & Public Protection Team Essex Trading Standards Jean Fincken Petroleum Inspector, LFEPA

Courses will be designed around the new (3rd edition) Blue Book Guidance for the Design, Construction, Modification, Maintenance and Decommissioning of Filling Stations (June 2011).

You can purchase a copy directly from the Publications page of the APEA website at www.apea.org.uk, log on to the website first to benefit from the APEA member discount.

APEA members can purchase a hard copy at the discounted rate of £70 (non member rate £140).

A PDF download from the APEA web site www.apea.org.uk can be purchased with a licence for individual use only by members for £70.00 plus vat or by non members for £140.00 plus vat.

It is strongly recommended that attendees have access to this document during courses.

All courses can be booked online at www.apea.org.uk on the ‘Training’ page.

Bespoke courses can be made available provided the minimum number of Delegates is 8. This offers a discount.

For details of this and any other training enquiry, please contact: Jane Mardell - APEA Business Manager, (contact details on page 3) or Brian Baker, Training Chairman Tel: +44 (0) 7541 039 686 email: bakerb4@sky.com

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk

69

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Delegates from the Leak Investigation Course, 3 April 2012 in Llandrindod Wells, Powys

TRAINING Delegates from a recent training course for the Isle of Wight Council

70

APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507 www.apea.org.uk