Oil blocks hitting hard in Europe

PARIS Tuesday 12 September 2000

Protests over high fuel prices continued to hit several European countries, as ministers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries approve an 800,000-barrel-a-day increase in global crude oil production.

Truck drivers in Britain blockaded oil depots on Sunday, cutting off the supply to the country's filling stations, as France returned to normal after a week of similar action by truckers and farmers.

Shell said 90 of its 100 service stations in north-west England were out of fuel, and warned that disruption could spread if the blockade of its Ellesmere Port refinery, the largest in Europe, continued.

In Scotland, truck drivers joined farmers and announced a series of roadblocks on main routes on Sunday.

Scottish Secretary John Reid said that Britons would not follow the hardline stance of the French truckers and farmers. "The people of this country do not resort to the French way of doing things, which causes massive disruption and inconvenience for their fellow citizens," he said.

France is slowly returning to normal after truckers' federations and other professions reached agreements with the government that were expected to ease the financial burden on professional drivers.

French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said the cost of the protest, which brought the country to a standstill last week, was likely to reach three billion francs ($A719.2 million).

In Belgium, truck and bus companies and taxis blocked the centre of Brussels on Saturday, organisers said. A procession of vehicles began winding through the capital, with horns blaring, and blocked the city with trucks at 3pm, said Marcel Delsemme, the president of the UPTR, a main trucking association.

About 1700 vehicles were in the protest, of which 300 were still trying to block central Brussels late on Sunday.

Organisers called Sunday's protest a "first warning" and said they were prepared for further action.

http://theage.com.au/news/20000912/A59258-2000Sep11.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 11, 2000