ECONOMIST AND Central Bank director, Alan Gray, is joining the board of fuel importer and retailer, Tedcastles.
Mr Gray is managing partner of Indecon, a consultancy that regularly works for governments and the private sector in Ireland and Europe. He is also a director of the Irish Financial Regulator.
According to its chief executive, Ray Reihill, Tedcastles has between 11 per cent and 12 per cent of the oil and gas market here, giving it sales of between €1.1 billion and €1.2 billion.
Mr Reihill added that charges such as excise and tax amount to a high proportion of those sales, and said that margins in the business are tight, at 0.5 to 1 per cent.
Mr Reihill said that the industry has no clear idea of where oil prices are likely to end this year. "Some forecasts are saying that it it could end up at $200 [ a barrel] and others say it could pull back to $90," he said. "What is clear is that it is going to be expensive."
Consumers will have to continue to deal with high motor fuel prices, while home heating oil could hit €800 a tank this winter.
The group has recruited Mr Gray because he has a good knowledge of its industry, he said. He worked with Tedcastles when it was planning a bid for Statoil's service station business in Ireland, which was bought by Topaz.
Topaz will announce today that it will add an ingredient to motor fuels that will cut consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.It will be branded clean petrol and clean diesel. The group believes it will cut 25 million litres from the 1 billion litres it sells a year.
