The UK benefits from a strong and diverse range of energy supplies, and the physical supply of fuel to the UK is stable. The national emergency plan for fuel, which has been in place for over a decade, sets out a number of levers that can be deployed in a fuel emergency depending on the type of issue being faced, and this is summarised on GOV.UK. We would consider intervention, with a preference always for the least invasive measures first, if it appears that there could be a shortfall of fuel nationally; but, to reiterate, we are not in this situation.
My Lords, this morning the CEO of Wizz Air, which carried over 30 million passengers last year, warned that European airlines risk collapse by September if jet fuel prices remain at current record levels. We are starting to learn of flight cancellations taking place to save aviation fuel and passengers being compensated so airlines can make savings now. Businesses are saying that the Government are not prepared. We have seen the closure of two refineries here in the UK in two years and the threatened closure of the remaining four due to carbon taxes and electricity prices four times higher than in the US, which makes the UK particularly vulnerable. Given that President Trump has stated that there is no timeframe for ending the Iran war, when will the Government listen to industry, level openly with the public, be transparent and heed the words of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, who has admitted that shortages are coming? Now, the Government should publish a national emergency plan for fuel to show how we can shore up our domestic supply of all forms of fuel and allow the public to make considered decisions.
The noble Lord conflates a number of different sources of fuel into one in his question. It is certainly the case, as far as petrol, diesel and other similar fuels are concerned, that supplies in the UK are stable. The UK as a refiner of petrol actually exports petrol from the UK, so there is no question of supply problems there. Only 1% of the crude oil that goes into petrol refining comes from the Middle East and only 7% of diesel comes from the Middle East so UK fuel supply is generally stable and secure. Jet fuel is slightly different as a higher percentage of it comes from the Middle East, but the airlines in the UK are clear that they are not currently seeing a shortage of jet fuel. Indeed, aviation fuel is typically bought in advance, and airports and their suppliers keep stocks of bunkered fuel to support their resilience.
My Lords, the double blockade of the strait is still in place and shows no signs of easing. The national fuel emergency plan was last updated in April 2024, yet current pressures across aviation fuel, diesel and fertilisers are unique and complex. What consideration is being given to updating and stress-testing the plan? How will the Government balance timely information with avoiding panic? What steps are being taken to support early economy-wide fuel efficiency measures?
The noble Earl is absolutely right to point to the complexity of the situation at the moment, not just in terms of particular kinds of fuel supply but the knock-on effects of, for example, a lack of supply in the Middle East as a result of some refineries being bombed and long-term supply questions across the world about certain other fuels. The national emergency plan for fuel, however, is a plan for shortages of fuels, of which there are none at the moment in the UK.
The wider question is: what will happen as far as prices are concerned as this crisis develops, since we have no means of determining exactly when it will finish? That is not an issue for the national emergency plan for fuel, but it is one for the question of stabilising prices for consumers and ensuring that businesses are not at risk from those prices getting out of control. Indeed, as the noble Earl knows, the Government have already started taking initiatives in this respect. For example, £53 million has been distributed to cushion the effects of price rises in home heating fuel, which are particularly suffered by people who are off grid.
My Lords, can the Minister confirm that sufficient consideration is being given to the maintenance of adequate stocks of petrol and jet fuel for the military, for their ongoing military operations and their essential training, and that consideration is also being given to alleviating any pressures from the price rises on the already hard-pressed defence budget?
I cannot speak in any detail for the Ministry of Defence, but the noble and gallant Lord can be assured that the question of bunkering and keeping supplies, particularly of jet fuel, is very much directed in conjunction with both civil aviation and military requirements. The question, as he implies, is a further one of prices. It is a matter of looking at how best a particularly targeted intervention can be undertaken in future to ensure that prices do not undermine various activities in this country. The Government are keeping a close watch on that at the moment.
My Lords, the national emergency plan for fuel remains a contingency for crisis. Its objectives include protection of human life and alleviation of suffering. Since 2020, energy companies have made £125 billion in profits and around 120,000 people a year die in fuel poverty. Does the Minister agree that there is a crisis and that lives can be saved by curbing profiteering by energy companies?
Yes, the noble Lord asks me whether there is a crisis and there is one in place at the moment. However, we have considerable difficulty in determining exactly its direction and depth, precisely because we do not know what the position is and will be, particularly concerning the Strait of Hormuz, for the future. The response to that crisis, as far as the Government are concerned, clearly has to be to take every measure possible to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is open—and open without tolls—for the passage of fuel across the world, but we do not know how long that will last.
The plans that we are therefore undertaking, particularly given the prices that may be an issue in global fuel scarcity, with various people trying to cannibalise everybody else’s fuel supply, are under our control nationally. We can therefore indeed intervene, if necessary, to make sure that those prices remain as stable as possible and, particularly as far as those who are in fuel poverty are concerned, that more people do not fall into fuel poverty as a result of those problems.
Two of our refineries have shut under this Government and the remaining four are at risk from high costs and very high taxes. What has emerged from government discussions with our refiners to expand our refinery output? That is the way to national security—not relying on product imports from dangerous parts of the world.
I do not quite recognise the noble Lord’s description that the four refineries in this country are at risk. Those are very large and stable refineries. As he knows, they continue to refine the forms of crude coming into the UK into petrol and other fuel products. Those refineries are set up to provide a particular kind of output based on the crude oil coming into them, and that is not necessarily a full spectrum of fuel products. Therefore, part of a strategy, as far as fuel is concerned for the future, is to look at where those refineries can expand and increase their production if possible, and to make sure that, where they are not able to easily refine the things we need, we have secure sources of those for the future.
My Lords, military aid to the civil authorities, or MACA, tasks are a standard provision within national resilience and there is a MACA task for fuel shortages. However, policy is clear that the military should only ever be used in extremis. The challenge is that, in recent years, they have become the default setting for many government departments when, frankly, right now, they should be doing other things. Can the Minister reassure your Lordships’ House that civil contingency is in place and that the military will only ever be used at times of extremis? I declare my interest as director of the Army Reserve.
Yes, indeed I can assure the noble Lord that that is the situation. It is what is set out in the national emergency plan for fuel, particularly in terms of the kinds of interventions that can be deployed in a fuel emergency, ensuring that the least invasive measures are carried out first. As the noble Lord will know, there are circumstances in which the military could be involved in making sure that fuel gets to the right destinations and that it is carried and delivered securely and reliably. That is all in the national emergency plan for fuel—a plan that we are not intending to implement at the moment because the circumstances envisaged by that emergency plan are not in place.
My Lords, can the Minister assure us that steps are being taken to ensure that we have adequate storage for fuel and gas? The situation that the Government inherited was certainly unsatisfactory for gas and, given the unstable international environment, we clearly need much more reserve capacity to provide resilience.
The noble Lord is right to raise storage and resilience. As far is gas is concerned, we have reliable supplies from a range of sources. Most notably, 43% of our supplies come from UK fields. A further 20% comes from Norwegian fields, some of which can be landed in the UK only when it has come from the fields. Only a small percentage comes in from LPG and other tankered arrangements. The question of supply, therefore, is about supplementing those secure supplies with a reasonable amount of reserve facility. That is indeed in place, in terms of eight reserve supply arrangements, as well as the development of the former Rough field in the UK for gas supply purposes.