Oil now lower than $100 a barrel

[dowtherz]

That's at least a 30% drop since July. Without wanting to sound like a Daily Express headline, when are we going to see the benefit of this at the pumps? At its peak, a garage near me was selling Diesel at £1.34 per litre, and is now selling it for £1.27 per litre (very different from a 30% drop). Takes a while for whole sale prices to filter through blah blah, shame it doesn't work the opposite way. Rant over

 

[Will]

Not trying to justify any of this, but don't forget that the massive majority of the pump price is made up of tax. A 30% drop in the price of crude won't have anywhere near the same effect on retail fuel prices.

Will

 

[dowtherz]

My point is, oil went up, prices at the pumps went up. Oils comes down, guess what? pumps stay they same (at best 10p down ie 8-10%). There has been no change in the fiscal treatment of petrol/diesel so the tax (duty) element is unchanged only difference the government will make less VAT as the retailer's price somes down which is beyond their control.

 

[grober]

OPEC have announced that they are reducing production in an attempt to maintain the $100 /barrel price.

 

[Smiley]

Also take a look at the exchange rate with the dollar. Sterling has tanked in the last 2 months or so - when oil was $140+ there was $2 to £1 - now there is only $1.76 or so - it means that whilst oil has dropped about 30% about half that is eaten up in exchange rate loss. Hold on to your hats if oil goes back up as $140+ oil is going to be a lot more than £1.30 something per litre.

 

[Mudster]

Sterling tanked against the Dollar when Darling opened his big trap....has cost me rather a lot, I buy in US Dollars when I Import.

 

[Smiley]

Sterling tanked against the Dollar when Darling opened his big trap....has cost me rather a lot, I buy in US Dollars when I Import.

Correct - it was his speech that caused it - whether it would have happened anyway is another matter - but effectively it has added about 12% to the cost of everything priced in US $. So the £1.30 per litre would have been £1.46 per litre if the oil price had not gone down at the same time.
There is a link between the strength of the dollar and the price of oil (in $) because it affects the amount the oil producing countries get in local currency terms.

 

[jaymanek]

expect 3-4 weeks before you see any effects at pump