Britain Refuels After Crisis

In Britain and Belgium, the fuel was finally flowing Friday, even as the threat of new gasoline protests loomed in other European countries.

Most of the pickets that have choked off Britain's petrol supply over the past week had been removed by early Friday, and tankers were once again rolling to gas stations. Shell said 20 percent of its pumps would be full by the weekend.

The first protest to end Thursday was at Stanlow in northwestern England, where a loosely organized coalition of truckers and farmers began its campaign a week ago. Pickets quickly left nearly a dozen other sites.

"We have lost the battle but won the war," said Mark Greene, a protest organizer at the Milford Haven refinery in Wales.

One abruptly restarted when protesters learned that Esso and several other oil companies had raised gas prices during the crisis. The companies reversed the decision after criticism from Blair and others.

Military tankers were pressed into service to help relieve the backlog, but industry officials said it would take weeks to restore supplies.

"It's going to take us two to three weeks to get back to normal levels," said Ray Holloway of the Petrol Retailers Association.

The fuel crisis sparked a rash of panic buying, and some stores ran out of milk and bread. The Royal Mail said Thursday it was suspending Sunday collections to conserve fuel. Some pubs reported they were in danger of running out of beer.

Conservative Party leader William Hague called on Blair to apologize for his "woeful" handling of the crisis, and the prime minister's popularity appeared to have taken a hit.

A Gallup poll conducted during the fuel crisis and published Friday in the Telegraph newspaper found a 7 percent rise in those dissatisfied with Blair's performance, from 45 percent to 52 percent.

Blair promised to listen to protesters, but offered no concessions on the taxes which have made British fuel prices the highest in Europe. British truckers paid an average of 81.8 pence for a liter ($4.33 a gallon) of diesel fuel last month, compared to 49.6 pence ($2.63) in Belgium, according to the Automobile Association.

Fuel price protests have swept Europe since French drivers took to the streets and won tax concessions from their government earlier in the month.

Belgian truckers drivers began late Thursday to lift blockades that had choked traffic around the country for five days. Two of three protesting unions accepted a government offer of compensation for truckers hit by high world oil prices.

The Hungarian oil and gas company, MOL, will raise wholesale gasoline prices by 2.7 percent and diesel prices by 5.4 percent Friday, and the Association of Hungarian Truckers announced it would protest and "not shirk from radical means."

The Association of Spanish Farmers and Ranchers called Thursday for demonstrations next week to protest higher fuel prices.

Polish Interior Minister Marek Biernacki warned of tough action against truckers if they participate in a go-slow protest Friday on the nation's highways.

Meanwhile, crude futures traded up to a high of $34.50 a barrel Thursday before easing back to $34.07 for a gain of 25 cents.

The market is still adjusting to Sunday's decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production by 800,000 barrels a day from Oct. 1.

Although the OPEC pact was initially viewed as insufficient, analysts say the group's three production increases so far this year will eventually lower prices.

OPEC President Ali Rodriguez said Thursday that OPEC had 2.9 million barrels a day in spare capacity it could bring to market within two months if necessary.

Heating oil prices in the Northeast are expected to rise by at least 20 percent this winter. In the Midwest, where heating oil is not widely used, gas prices are expected to be the biggest problem. And in California, the electricity supply shortage of this summer will likely persist.