Earlier this month, Emirates National Oil Company, better known as Enoc, embarked on a bold project: getting the drivers of Dubai and the northern emirates to leave the air-conditioned, window-tinted, leather-upholstered comfort of their cars to pump their own petrol. They weren't the first to try. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or Adnoc, launched a similar program in March. Both companies are primarily concerned with nudging customers toward making more purchases at their convenience stores. But the Enoc program was notable for its timing. The company waited until the hottest month of the year because it was the best way to test people's willingness to fill their own tanks.
In my five months in the country, I'd never seen anyone pump his own fuel, even when the weather was pleasant. I was curious as to how these companies planned to change people's deeply ingrained behaviour. So one recent morning, I struck out to catch one of the UAE's petroleum consumption pioneers in action. It wasn't easy. I had to go to several stations before finding one that offered the option, and when I finally pulled into the arc of cars queuing behind the "Self-Service" sign at the Adnoc station on Salam Street, I noticed that no one in front of me was leaving his car. Like the lines for full service, this one had two attendants in blue uniforms who looked every bit as busy as their colleagues. I asked one of them, a fresh-faced Indian youth named Ashraf Mayyala Ali, why he was filling up cars that had queued for self-service.
"Before, maybe two months back, the company decided that if the customer is requesting, we will fill," he said. "Otherwise, we will inform how to fill." On this busy morning, no one was requesting self-service. Car after car pulled up silently to the pump. The only question that was asked, so regularly that it became a kind of chant, was "cash or charge?" This was apparently the way the drivers wanted it. A Palestinian man in a crisply pressed button-down replied "no thank you" to the idea of ever pouring his own petrol; a labourer in an truck from the municipality just shook his head sheepishly at the idea. A rugged-looking Egyptian man in an equally rugged-looking pick-up truck thought the idea had merit, but he wasn't going to try it today. Many seemed surprised to discover that they were in the self-service line at all.
"People do not like to fill up self," Ali explained. "They need help." But it would likely be different if the self-service petrol were actually cheaper. The current system puts the savings from pumping one's own petrol on a card that customers can use at Adnoc Oasis stores or donate to charity. I went inside to see if anyone had redeemed their points, but couldn't get anywhere near the counter. A crush of 50 men, most dressed in traditional Pakistani garb, stood amid the aisles of chocolate and plush toys. Their impatience was fermenting into anger.
"It's been like that for the last 15 days," said Shane Nier, the shift manager of the Marybown restaurant at the back of the store. "It's because they have opened the new cards for the diesel, and it's much less expensive than in Dubai." Adnoc has been inundated by haulers as its diesel prices have held steady while those of its competitors, which rise with global markets, have more than doubled in the last six months. The company instituted a pre-paid card system to limit the crowds driving in from other emirates, but on this day there seemed to be only one person assigned to administer that system. The car park was a frenzy of deadlocked honking, and the lines stretched much of the way down the street.
"It's crazy," Nier said, shaking his head. "Everyone is angry." The scene was so chaotic that you could hardly blame the office-bound crowd for not wanting to get out of their cars. But the spectacle did answer my question, in a way. People will change their behaviour - in this case, by driving across hours of desert motorway - for the sake of cheaper fuel. They are just not likely to change for discount chocolate bars.
khagey@thenational.ae
Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
The%20US%20Congress%20explained
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The years Ramadan fell in May
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Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
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On sale: now
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
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World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
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Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
THE BIO
Occupation: Specialised chief medical laboratory technologist
Age: 78
Favourite destination: Always Al Ain “Dar Al Zain”
Hobbies: his work - “ the thing which I am most passionate for and which occupied all my time in the morning and evening from 1963 to 2019”
Other hobbies: football
Favorite football club: Al Ain Sports Club
MATCH INFO
Argentina 47 (Tries: Sanchez, Tuculet (2), Mallia (2), De La Fuente, Bertranou; Cons: Sanchez 5, Urdapilleta)
United States 17 (Tries: Scully (2), Lasike; Cons: MacGinty)
2017%20RESULTS%3A%20FRENCH%20VOTERS%20IN%20UK
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Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammed Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Saeed Ahmed, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Muhammed Jumah, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs