Chancellor keeping an eye on fuel prices!

[Contractor]

You do see forecourts closing and cars are more economical but I believe that the number of cars are increasing. Therefore the sales are shared between a smaller number of retailers so it should be holding their profits up.
My gripe at the moment is they are turning into supermarkets and cafés. People fill up then go and do their shopping, leaving their car at the pump. I had to wait about 10mins last week and looking across the forecourt a chap was already inside when I pulled up and he left just in front of me.

 

[wongl]

The only effective way to consistently get cheap petrol/diesel I have found is to find an employer who is generous enough to provide a fuel card for both business and private mileage. Once you have one of these it is like getting 80% (60% for higher tax earners) discount at each fill up!

 

[BTB 500]

They sell all the other stuff (food etc.) because it's more profitable than fuel. I was reading that £10 worth of fuel is the breakeven point if you pay on a card - below that they actually make a loss on the transaction due to the card fees.

My local (big) Shell station was revamped this year and the shop is now a Waitrose. The staff all wear Waitrose uniforms, and quite a few people in there are only buying groceries.

 

[John Jones Jr]

My gripe at the moment is they are turning into supermarkets and cafés. People fill up then go and do their shopping, leaving their car at the pump. I had to wait about 10mins last week and looking across the forecourt a chap was already inside when I pulled up and he left just in front of me.

Oh, that does my head in and it always seems to happen when I'm in a bit of a hurry. And the real sting is I'm sitting there wasting my time to drop 70 or 80 quid on fuel. Nothing worse than having to queue to spend one's own money.

 

[GordonTarling]

The chancellor's only worried about the loss in VAT revenue as fuel prices drop, with one eye on raising the fuel duty to compensate and the other eye on next year's election. We'll see what happens!

 

[grober]

Brent crude down again! On Friday, Brent crude fell to below $63 a barrel, its lowest price since July 2009. Almost half what it was in June of this year. BBC News - Oil price falls further on IEA energy forecast

 

[Druk]

What year was it fuel went through the 100ppl barrier and what was the barrel price then? Can't be far off that now.

 

[grober]

SOURCE http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15730087
The spike in 2008 largely down to political tensions in the Middle East.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

SOURCE BBC News - MPs urge ministers to scrap a planned rise in fuel duty
The spike in 2008 largely down to political tensions in the Middle East.

Interesting. It shows the gap between crude and pump prices narrowing.

 

[Benzowner]

Number of UK fuel forecourts dropped from 21,000 to 8,500 in 20 years:

Death of the petrol station: Forecourts more than half on 1990s boom to hit record low | This is Money



The other quote I saw was from the BBC - that there are less places to buy petrol in the UK now than there were in 1912!

I almost agree with this, but I do wonder how many petrol pumps there are now compared with 20 years ago. Most older forecourts had one or two pumps where most supermarket outlets have at least 6 double outlet pumps.

 

[Druk]

Good find. So according to that the pump prices should presently be around £1pl as that was the price when it was $60(ish) a barrel in late 2005.

 

[Dryce]

I almost agree with this, but I do wonder how many petrol pumps there are now compared with 20 years ago. Most older forecourts had one or two pumps where most supermarket outlets have at least 6 double outlet pumps.

True.

The opening hours for use of pumps has also extended. Every local filling station we have is now open at least to midnight iof not 24 hours.

Back in the day when there were lots of small filling stations with attended pumps they often closed at 1700 or 1800 and were not open on Sundays.

 

[E270 Owner]

In my area traffic is constant from 06:00 till 21:00 - 22:00
there's a lot more cars on the road for longer hours than there used to be
so its supply feeding demand I suppose regarding small petrol stations and short hours,
years ago everyone was tucked up in bed @ 10:30 during the week days, no internet or 24 hour TV

Our old Filling Station and Workshop at Plumstead made pennies on a gallon of fuel,
it was the associated trade that made it worth keeping it going shop sales and garage services,
there was no money to be made out of the fuel side of the business,
it didn't even pay the girls wages on the tills.

 

[Bellow]

The spike in 2008 largely down to political tensions in the Middle East.

And the slump due to the same....

Brent crude down again! On Friday, Brent crude fell to below $63 a barrel, its lowest price since July 2009. Almost half what it was in June of this year. BBC News - Oil price falls further on IEA energy forecast
]

The report says:
''The root cause of the fall in prices was "a surge in non‐Opec supply to its highest growth ever and contraction in demand growth to five‐year lows".

It predicted that non-Opec supply gains would add to a global glut of oil.''

but fails to comment on the rumour that the reason is a desire within OPEC to kill US fracking industry stone dead. The forecast drop in US production is almost certainly because fracking is becoming uneconomic at $63/barrel.

 

[grober]

Fracking Firms Get Tested by Oil?s Price Drop - WSJ
It would appear that some US shale deposits would indeed become temporarily uneconomic if prices drop. It would certainly spell the death knell for UK shale developments at present.
UK fracking faces bust amid Opec oil price war - Telegraph

 

[Bellow]

UK fracking faces bust amid Opec oil price war - Telegraph

Saudis saving leafy English shires from the horrors of fracking! - you couldn't script it!
And to think, if the result in September had gone the other way the brunt of falling Brent price would be felt by Scotland alone not a financial loss of revenue to the UK. Hope the UJ waving unionists have an apology for costing the rest of the UK where they could have been spared.

 

[E280wilson]

I always seem to notice that BP are always a couple of pence higher than everyone else. Is this to claw back the money lost in the oil disaster. Our local BP is still charging £1.26 for diesel.

 

[Bellow]

I always seem to notice that BP are always a couple of pence higher than everyone else. Is this to claw back the money lost in the oil disaster. Our local BP is still charging £1.26 for diesel.

They'll have to shift a few litres to recoup the $28bn they've already paid out! Rumour has it they will go after Halliburton for the cash - which is reckoned to be the reason Halliburton have just bought Baker-Hughes - less money left in the kitty when BP comes a calling....

 

[vealige]

114.9 for unleaded and 118.9 for diesel locally now keep going at this rate may dip below 110!

 

[Peter T]

114.9 for unleaded and 118.9 for diesel locally now keep going at this rate may dip below 110!

112.9p at local Sainsburys today. Nearly there!