As diesel prices climb, thieves siphon fuel from B.C. construction sites

Diesel prices have risen more than 40 per cent this year, according to StatsCan. Photo by Gerry Kahrmann /Vancouver Sun

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It’s the middle of the night on a construction site in the Lower Mainland. An excavator sits silent and dark. Then a truck pulls up beside it, and the driver sets up flashing lights that illuminate the machine.

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To a passerby, it might look like a contractor checking on company equipment.

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But a thief can use those few minutes to drain hundreds of litres of diesel into a portable tank in the back of the pickup before driving away.

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“It doesn’t always look nefarious,” said Kyle Heinz, vice-president of assets and workforce for Surrey-based Jacob Bros Construction, which is working on Highway 1 upgrades in Langley and Abbotsford.

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Heinz says rising diesel prices are making fuel stored in construction machinery an increasingly tempting target for thieves, and at least two Lower Mainland companies have recently been hit.

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Jacob Bros has experienced four diesel thefts in the past three weeks, Heinz said, with hundreds of litres taken in most cases.

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In the Vancouver area, which includes parts of the Fraser Valley, the average price of diesel rose 41.8 per cent in the year to August, from $1.78 to $2.52 a litre, according to Statistics Canada.

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“That’s almost a $1,000 hit if they come and drain a tank,” Heinz told Postmedia on Thursday.

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The theft can happen quickly.

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“Oftentimes, they’re on site for 10, 15 minutes. By the time you realize what’s going on and get a call out to police, they’re already gone,” explained Heinz.

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That can be particularly difficult on highway projects, where equipment is parked overnight at remote sites or along the roadside. Often, workers don’t discover the theft until they arrive the next morning.

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“They come back to work, and the equipment is empty to the point where we’re scared to start it,” Heinz said.

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The stolen fuel is only part of the cost.

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“There can be a big impact operationally,” Heinz explained.

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Workers may have to check the equipment for damage, bring in replacement fuel and sometimes call in a mechanic if a machine has been damaged.

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On publicly funded highway projects, Heinz said those added costs could ultimately be passed on to taxpayers.

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“If you’re a contractor, a farmer, you’ve given a price to provide your service, but all of a sudden fuel is close to double in cost. I think it’s pushing people to extreme measures just to survive,” Heinz said.

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Vancouver-based Quattro Constructors is dealing with the same problem.

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Diesel was stolen from multiple vehicles at its gated and locked Langley jobsite overnight on Tuesday, despite having security cameras, president Rick Morrison said.

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“This is the second time on this site. We had an event back in April.”

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Morrison said the thefts were reported to police but no arrests have been made.

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Langley RCMP confirmed it has an active investigation into a reported fuel theft from a Langley construction site, but said police could not provide further details, and declined to answer what it thinks the stolen diesel may be used for.