Fuel Oil News April 2019 | Page 9

News In brief 6 Established as an independent company in 2002, the px group has been chosen to operate, manage and maintain BP’s former Northampton fuel storage and distribution terminal for its new owner, Essar Oil UK. px CEO Mark Kendrick ‘looks forward to forging a mutually rewarding relationship with Essar’. px manages power generating plants on Teesside, Cumbria, Lincolnshire and Wales. 6 Gulf Aviation, has secured a brand-new 12-month contract to provide fuel for Delta Air Lines, adding to its growing network of international airline carriers. The contract, which will see supply to Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow International, ‘further represents progress for Gulf Aviation as we continue working hard to achieve our strategic growth objectives, building on the reputation we’ve established over the past eight years since we entered the UK’s aviation fuel market,’ said David Dykes, commercial manager at Gulf Aviation. 6 Pentag Gears and Oilfi eld Equipment has completed the delivery of its 35th beam pump to the Wytch Farm Oil Field in Dorset. Originally founded by British Gas Corporation back in 1980, the largest oilfi eld in Western Europe is now operated by Perenco. Comprising of three separate oil reservoirs – the Bridport and Sherwood Jurassic sandstone oil reservoirs and the Frome clay/limestone oil reservoir; the fi eld’s average daily production is more than 13,000 barrels 6 Of the 8,459 UK petrol stations, 60% are now in the hands of independent dealers with the top 5 groups owning 28% between them reports Christie & Co, a specialist advisor for buying and selling business in convenience retail. The largest operators by volume remain the supermarkets which sell on average around 11 million litres of fuel per site. With fuel margins low, the focus is on expanding retail; last year the total value of forecourt convenience sales was around four billion. 6 This year Shrewsbury-based Morris Lubricants is celebrating 150 years in business. The company, which has a 250-strong workforce, has seen fi ve generations since it was founded by James Kent Morris in 1869. Launching a graduate recruitment programme in 2015, the fi rst graduates to join were Kyle Gleeson, an international business studies graduate and Owen Lloyd, an agricultural engineering graduate. Both have now progressed to become commercial manager in the export department and a buyer in the purchasing department respectively. px fuel terminal operations now extend to Essar Oil UK’s recently acquired Northampton terminal In situ at Wytch Farm Oil Field in Dorset, Pentag beam pumps ‘offer trouble-free operation in all climatic conditions’ The Bridport Jurassic sandstone oil reservoir lies 900m beneath the surface of the Wytch Farm Oil Field. The Sherwood Jurassic reservoir is situated at a depth of 1,600m with the Frome clay/limestone oil reservoir being 750m below the surface “Talented young employees like Kyle (l) and Owen represent the company’s future,” said chairman Andrew Goddard, a 5th generation descendant of James Kent Morris Fuel Oil News | April 2019 9