Daily US Times: The British government is to suspend competition law, so that oil firms can target fuel deliveries at petrol stations following recent panic buying.
Officials said the decision would make it easier for fuel companies to share information and prioritise parts of the country most at need.
It follows days of long queues at the fuel stations after fears of disruption to the fuel supply sparked panic buying.
UK ministers are also considering deploying the Army to deliver fuel.
The option is under consideration and it could be examined at a possible cabinet meeting on Monday.
According to the Petrol Retailers Association that as many as two-thirds of their membership of nearly 5,500 independent outlets are out of fuel, with the rest of them “partly dry and running out soon”.
Announcing the decision to exempt the oil industry from the Competition Act 1998, Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK Business Secretary, said the government had “long-standing” contingency plans to maintain supplies.
He said there has always been and continues to be plenty of fuel at terminals and refineries, but there have been some issues with supply chains.
In an attempt to help supermarkets work together to maintain food supplies, the government also relaxed competition law in March 2020.
In recent months, a shortage of lorry drivers has caused problems for a range of industries, from supermarkets to fast food chains.
Some deliveries were affected in recent days, leading to panic buying and lengthy queues at some petrol stations.
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