As a Liverpool based owner and with a vested interest in finding out the facts I spent a very interesting hour or so over the weekend with Wayne Barrett, Ops Director of Ravenair.
Before we all get too exercised about this, there is an awful lot of misinformation around and it might be beneficial to take a breath and consider some of the facts, which Wayne took the time to share very openly with me.
Firstly, the price which Ravenair are going to be charging us is the same as the rate at which they charge all of their other GA customers (this has been verified by members of the existing Cirrus and Commander groups). Wayne made the point that it would become obvious very quickly if they tried to profit excessively from the "new"customers, as many of us know each other. It's also worth noting that with their own fleet of 30+ aircraft (half of which are twins) they are in a relatively good buying position and their customers do actually benefit from that (you won't believe that part until you read on). The key point however is that the pricing policy to new customers exactly matches that for existing customers and it is clear to me that this has not changed in light of the sole supply status. Their prices have simply followed the market only, i.e there is no additional markup due to their sole supply status.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, Ravenair do not buy their Avgas from Exxon, they buy it from Shell, so it really isn't a case of buying it at our "old" price and marking it up. Wayne went through 18 month historical average supply prices for Exxon and Shell. This was fascinating; about 9 months ago they were both very similar. Then, over the more recent months as fuel costs from all suppliers continued to rise, Shell increased their prices in line with the market but Exxon did not. (By the way, this is all publicly available information if anyone wants to verify the facts). One can only guess at why Exxon let their price rises lag behind the others, but it's worth noting that there are at least four different factors which can affect pricing (the cost of crude, the cost of shipping, the exchange rate against the dollar and the oil companies profit multipliers). Even more surprising is the fact that (AIUI) Exxon buy their fuel from Shell anyway! Anyway, the net result is that Exxon has been (in aviation terms) something of a bargain.
Now, turning to the situation al LPL, Exxon gave notice (in fact, insufficient notice according to their contract) that they would no longer be prepared to supply Avgas on the GA Apron. Several of the residents asked to have their own mobile bowser, but the airport had already reached agreement with the CAA and the HSE that they would try to reduce the number of mobile bowsers rather than increase them (there is apparently national pressure to do this due to "safety concerns" at GA airfields which may or may not be unfounded).
Just as an aside, if you saw the extent of the Risk Assessment documentation, licensing and insurance requirements which Ravenair have to fulfil, you'll see this is not for the faint hearted, and I would surmise that some of the LPL residents who applied for mobile bowsers may not have been in a position to comply anyway. Ravenair obviously already had all of this in place as an existing supplier of many years' standing.
There is also the issue of who stores the fuel. At the moment bulk storage is in tanks jointly owned by Exxon and Shell, so this precludes (for example) Total fuel being bought and stored if their rate happens to be better. Any other supplier would have to be agreed with the airport (and a commercial agreement put in place) and have a point of delivery to allow storage.
So, if I were to summarise, we have been getting a better deal than most for many months, and this deal is no longer available to us. The rate which we pay now will (as always) suffer from the ups and downs of fuel prices just like it did with Exxon. Granted, it's no bargain, but as the old fuel stocks at various airfields get replaced at current rates it should become clear that we aren't wildly out of kilter. In a way, had we had lots of gradual rises over the last 9 months we wouldn't even be discussing it now, but the apparent jump is what has caused the upset.
One thing which has become clear is that it is often difficult to compare like with like due to the different practices of the fuel companies. One good method is an average over a 12-18 month period which is what we will do from now on (and, just for the record, what Ravenair do as part of their procurement and purchase procedures).
On a more practical basis, I arrived at 11:30 on Saturday and the aircraft needed fuel. 5 mins later the Ravenair fueller was there with no fuss and a cheery smile. Anyone who knows the deal with Exxon will realise what an achievement this is (most importantly, there was no taxying down to Stand 14 and waiting half-an-hour while the Exxon guy finishes his sandwich).
Overall I think we had a great deal, but it has now ended, however, the alternative arrangements do have some positives too.
Hope that's helpful