“Buying oil via supertankers is what developing countries do.”
The UK ran out of fuel last winter and had no choice but to buy in the spot market. So buying energy on the international market is not something that only developing countries do. The energy companies didn’t buy enough for the storage tanks to meet the demand for a record-cold winter. And it’s not the government that pays for the fuel, it’s the energy companies, so it doesn’t mater that the UK has 10x more per capita income as compared to Bumf*ck, Egypt. That increased cost must ultimately be paid by the consumer. That’s the reason that the fuel poverty index exists.
My point is that as a citizen of a wealthy industrialized country, the British consumer and/or taxpayer isn't going to sweat the 10%-20% price difference.