THE petroleum industry was working on emergency measures last night to ensure that service stations in the South East do not run out of fuel after the explosion.

The UK Petroleum Industry Association, which represents one in four British service stations, cautioned motorists against panic buying, saying that the impact on supplies “was manageable”. The association said it was still too early to assess the full damage caused by the explosions at Britain’s fifth biggest fuel depot, setting 60 million litres of fuel alight and destroying an unknown number of road tankers.

Key pipelines leading into and out of the depot were also closed to prevent fire spreading through the highly inflammable network of pipes and back into the refinery.

Ray Holloway, of the Petrol Retailers Association, said the industry had fallback plans. He said: “This site is strategically important, but not critically important. There will be no market effect and the oil industry will do what it does and manage this extremely effectively.”

Total and Chevron said that they would use their other UK depots to meet demand. Chevron has 1,100 Texaco-branded service stations in the UK, of which about 100 were supplied by Buncefield. Total has 700 outlets.

The Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal (HOSL), locally known as the Buncefield terminal, is owned by the French oil giant Total (60 per cent) and Chevron of the US (40 per cent). Built in 1968, the depot’s 26 tanks can hold up to 77 million litres of refined oil products. It accounts for about 5 per cent of the UK’s total refined oil products throughput.

Its position makes it a key supplier to Greater London, big commercial customers and Heathrow and Gatwick airports. About 400 road tankers are loaded at the depot each day. The airports are fed directly by the Total-run West London pipeline, which was closed down immediately. However, any fears that pre-Christmas holiday traffic at both airports would come to a standstill were allayed immediately by BAA. In addition to onsite storage tanks, both airports also receive fuel supplies from other sources.

The fuel industry is likely to draw more heavily on other depots around Greater London, such as ExxonMobil’s West London facility near Heathrow, the third largest in the country.

Oil industry analysts emphasised last night that the Buncefield explosions would not lead to an oil shortage, referring instead to a distribution problem.

Depots like Buncefield are just one station on oil’s long journey to a motorist’s petrol tank. Buncefield is supplied predominantly by Total’s Lindsey oil refinery, five miles from the Humber estuary, by the 160-mile long Fina-Line pipeline.