Levels of oil stocking obligations on UK companies

The UK holds emergency stocks of oil and refined products to release, in a co-ordinated fashion with other countries, to the international market in the event of a major oil supply disruption. The UK is obligated to hold emergency stocks by both the European Union and the International Energy Agency.

To meets its obligations, the UK government issues legally-binding directions to oil companies to hold stocks if they supply substantial amounts of oil products to the UK market. As a result of an updated EU Oil Stocking Directive and market changes between types of UK oil suppliers, we need to update our obligations on UK companies to ensure compliance with the EU obligation now and in the future.

This consultation considers a range of options to amend the UK approach to company obligations which would enable the UK to ensure compliance.