Ineos Group is proceeding with the shutdown of its 200,000 barrel-a-day Grangemouth refinery as talks with unions to avert industrial action look bleak. The plant takes crude from BP’s Forties Pipeline System, which transfers oil from more than 50 North Sea fields.

So the housing market is dropping on the back of the credit crunch and U.K. oil supplies are about to be turned off. Not exactly the best economic outlook is it? Expect to see queues at petrol stations just in time for the local elections….