Concerns over queues at the petrol pump are growing at the very top levels of both business and government.
And whatever Westminster says, there are credible figures warning that forecourts could soon be hit by shortages due to the ongoing Iran war.
Nick Butler, the former BP executive who worked for Gordon Brown in government, said yesterday that those oil and gas shortfalls could come in the next two to three weeks.
He said the government should be “seriously planning how they’re going to handle that” – a message that is starkly at odds with the “keep calm and carry on” approach of ministers to date.
But behind the scenes, the worries go much further than fuel, and contingency planning more widely is now the government’s number one live priority.
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I’ve picked up that there are three areas where industry is warning government that it needs to be more active and show more concern.
In turn, senior figures in government insist they are aware and working at pace in a complicated environment.
Here are the three areas.
Jet fuel availability
The first is jet fuel availability – a commodity at risk because it can’t be stored for very long.
The price is up 72% since the Iran crisis began, and some airlines don’t hedge their fuel purchases – so that is likely to be quickly passed through into the price of tickets, so what happens to summer and autumn flights will become an issue.
This morning, Bloomberg pushed a story about soaring airfares ruining your summer holiday: expect this theme to increase.
