The Oil Drum

Shortage of diesel fuel now 'critical'

Two major fuel suppliers are sounding the alarm for Ontario's trucking industry amid "critical" shortages of diesel fuel in the province.

The fuel shortage, which has seen motorists inconvenienced for more than a week as gas pumps intermittently run dry, has forced Ultramar to suspend diesel deliveries to four Toronto-area service centres and three other Ontario cities - Hamilton, Cambridge and London.

"These sites will remain open only while the product currently in the storage tanks lasts," Ultramar said Thursday in a notice to customers....

...."The last thing you want to have is a situation where your gas stations may be closed but, worse, our truckers cannot get the product from A to B," he said.

McTeague said the Energy Supplies Emergency Act allows the federal government to take action if shortages cause social or economic problems.