No, not like this:
But these:
These tankers have been parked off our shores for months, refusing to unload their oil until prices have risen even higher. The delay makes millions for speculators... and keeps your petrol costs soaring.
Laden with fuel, three oil tankers sit idly in Lyme Bay,off the Devon Coast, playing a waiting game that is driving up petrol prices for hard-pressed motorists.
They are part of a flotilla of ten vessels refusing to unload their cargo until market speculation has driven up its price to the level they want.
And as the value of that cargo is currently rising by over £1million a day, driven partly by profiteering traders and speculators, it is unlikely to see a petrol station any time soon.
With such tactics, it is not hard to see why prices at the pumps are forecast to have risen by 26 per cent in a year by this Christmas.
AA president Edmund King said: 'Traders and speculators seem to be storing up oil until the price rises. Drivers can expect more hikes in the pipeline. Motorists are paying the price of this at the pumps.'
Residents near Brixham in Devon have watched with growing anger as the tankers have anchored in Lyme Bay for the past two months.
The price of a barrel of oil has increased from $40 a barrel a year ago to $80, with the cost expected to soar even higher in the next few months.
Even from the start of the tankers' stay in Lyme Bay, the value of the oil they carry has risen from £313million to £378million - an increase of £65million, or more than £1million a day.
It means a 21 per cent profit for doing nothing more than simply watching and waiting.
Record amounts of fuel are now being stored in such a manner around the world - indirectly helping to push up petrol prices on the forecourt.
Oil pumped out of the ground by the major producers such as BP, Shell and Exxon goes by pipeline to tankers which then circle the globe.
In the course of their journey the oil may be bought and sold to different traders many times on the international commodity markets, often in just one day.
Some of these unidentified oil traders may be big-name players within the industry, but others could be the 'Arthur Daleys of the international oil world', say City experts.
The price drivers pay at a forecourt - currently touching 110p-alitre or £5-a-gallon - is largely determined when the oil reaches an onshore refinery, from where it takes two months to work its way through to the pumps.
But until it gets to the refinery speculators are free to drive up the price thanks to the age-old capitalist model of supply and demand.
(Based on an article in Mail Online)
