Soaring energy prices are forcing Procter & Gamble, the US consumer goods company that is the world's biggest, to rethink how it distributes products and to consider shifting manufacturing sites closer to consumers to cut its transport bill.

Keith Harrison, head of global supply at P&G, the maker of Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste and Pampers nappies, said the era of high oil prices was forcing P&G to change.