Petrol Prices - again...

[saorbust]

I noticed that unleaded is now about 103p per litre.

I also note that Oil is about 70 USD per barrel.

Strikes me this is a bit out of sync with the prices last year - when we had oil at 140 per barrel and petrol at 103p per litre.

I know fuel duty has gone up I think 2p per litre - but has anyone any further views ? Are we being ripped off or is something else going on...?

 

[verytalldave]

The world is awash with oil.
All storage tanks are full and tankers are being used as mobile storage tanks and many are parked up offshore all over the world.
Oil companies will charge whatever the market will stand. Its as simple as that.
And the fact that Darling and Brown - the famous music hall double act - have put taxes up recently hasnt helped.

 

[wemorgan]

I noticed that unleaded is now about 103p per litre.

It is depressing how quickly it can rise at times.

The only positive spin I can find is that my wife's Smart car that I bought 1 year ago has not really depreciated, which I suspect is due to the rising cost of fuel and VED.

 

[blondebier]

1) Sterling is weak
2) Yes - we are being ripped off

 

[grober]

Allegedly its to do with the USA "driving season" when American dudes all squeeze themselves into their Humvees, V8 SUV's and motorhomes and take to the highway. Demand for petrol on the world market goes up and thus so does the price of petrol for us. [This is largely governed by world refining capacity rather than the price of crude??] This all done on a US economy reputedly run on money borrowed from the Chinese - you couldn't make it up.

 

[rajinder_1]

Allegedly its to do with the USA "driving season" when American dudes all squeeze themselves into their Humvees, V8 SUV's and motorhomes and take to the highway. Demand for petrol on the world market goes up and thus so does the price of petrol for us. [This is largely governed by world refining capacity rather than the price of crude??] This all done on a US economy reputedly run on money borrowed from the Chinese - you couldn't make it up.

Damn Yanks!!!!!

 

[normanr]

I noticed that unleaded is now about 103p per litre.

I also note that Oil is about 70 USD per barrel.

Strikes me this is a bit out of sync with the prices last year - when we had oil at 140 per barrel and petrol at 103p per litre.

I know fuel duty has gone up I think 2p per litre - but has anyone any further views ? Are we being ripped off or is something else going on...?

I get realy fed up with fuel prices because last time it was high and the lorry drivers etc had a go about it the prices came down,but as we have all probably noticed it has gone up by a couple of pence week after week they think we are all idiots and don't notice it.

But what is the answer? I think we just have to live with it I cannot afford a new car that is fuel efficiant besides if the Darlings etc think it is OK to drive round in there gas guzzlers it does not do much for setting a good example does it.

 

[Shude]

Most places near me are now charging the same for petrol as diesel and one place about half a mile from my house is now charging 105.9 for unleaded and 103.9 for diesel!

 

[jaymanek]

around here diesel is more expensive at 104.9 and u/l is 103.9

 

[beem]

Problem is we sit back and take it, when the truckers tried to demonstrate they were threatened with the army, what a wonderful democratic country this is. If we all refused to buy fuel for one week the oil companys (and this wonderful government) would loose billions, if not for drivers, smokers and drinkers this country would have to close.

 

[flango]

One of the problems is that there was an imbalance of diesel refining Vs Petrol refining so a lot of the diesel was being Imported into the UK as finished product (not crude) this obviously increases the price due to the transport to get it here, most of it was coming from the far east. Then the UK based refieries changed their production plans to pump out more diesel and decrease the petrol production. What has happened now is that we are producing our own domestic diesel but demand has dropped due to the economic cliamte as there are not as many lorry movements and hence diesel demand drops. Petrol on the other hand has not seen the drop experienced by diesel and now the oil companies find themselves short in the UK. Hence the big boys ( Shell, BP, Conoco, Exxon) are now having to Import Petrol into the UK as a finished product, most of it coming in from Malaysia. This has contributed to the petrol price increase.

If you look at the numbers, consumption Vs Production Vs Imports couple those with the price of crude at around $70 USD a barrel then by the end of October there is likely to be a 10p per litre differential between Unleaded Petrol and Diesel. Predicted prices are £1.05 for diesel and £1.15 for Petrol.

Pleased to say at the moment my local shell garage 99.9 p for unleaded and 101.9 for standard diesel

 

[xsrx]

Little Offtopic: Saorbust... Could you contact me at michael (at) rgg.co.uk ? I have a question about W211 589 10 22 00 you have (I've found it in another topic).

Thanks in advance

 

[glojo]

The world is awash with oil.
All storage tanks are full and tankers are being used as mobile storage tanks and many are parked up offshore all over the world.
Oil companies will charge whatever the market will stand. Its as simple as that.
And the fact that Darling and Brown - the famous music hall double act - have put taxes up recently hasnt helped.

I have been saying this for the last few years and as we all know I attracted huge criticism from so called experts. There is indeed huge,huge r4eserves of this so called liquid gold and there is no way it willdisappearin our lifetime or even our children's lifetime. After that who know's what type of transport will be popular.

For over 12 months we have had high numbersof fully laden super tankers anchored off the coast of Lyme Bay. It is no coincidence that as the price of oil is starting to rise... We are seeing these tankers getting underway.

Last night there were just four fully laden, huge super tankers that are still at anchor waiting for the right time to sell their cargo.

At the moment more wells are being shut down,than are being opened, plus drilling is at an all time low. Are we being deceived by our experts? Is there an oil shortage? will our wells all dry up unless we conserve fuel? Should we crush our gasguzzlers to help conserve fuel stocks? Or arewe being once more manipulated by both the media and governments.

As an aside we have nowhere near explored the North Sea oil reserves and my guess would be that we still have as much to extract as has been used and it is highly probable that there is far more still under the sea-bed than has been extracted.

The market is manipulating the supply of oil to control the price and underground stocks have absolutely nothing to do with price; it is all to do with speculators and how much oil is being refined

 

[Benzowner]

Allegedly its to do with the USA "driving season" when American dudes all squeeze themselves into their Humvees, V8 SUV's and motorhomes and take to the highway. Demand for petrol on the world market goes up and thus so does the price of petrol for us. [This is largely governed by world refining capacity rather than the price of crude??] This all done on a US economy reputedly run on money borrowed from the Chinese - you couldn't make it up.

I thought that untill I realised that diesel has not risen neither has the "super unleaded" stuff. In fact I am seriously using the super stuff in my car, I know I will get at least 10% more mpg, I've used it before, and it is currently not 10% more expensive. My son uses it in his Skyline and paid £1.08

 

[oldcro]

Yesterday, diesel £115.9 litre. Not sure about petrol, but not much cheaper.

 

[janner]

Allegedly its to do with the USA "driving season"...

Yeh, right . In the winter it's because of the USA using oil for heating and the summer because of "driving season".
The price of oil is whatever they can get away with. Only when people protest or governments talk of alternatives does the price drop unexpectedly. We all need oil and only a few people sell it. You don't need an economics degree.

 

[Baron_Samedi]

As someone here already mentioned, I too am convinced that oil price is determined more by what a speculator is prepared to pay for it rather than how much is pumped, used, discovered or taxed.

 

[hawk20]

There is no plot and we are not being manipulated. Supply of petrol and diesel in UK is a hugely competitive market. Tax is the biggest part of the price and has been raised, as others have mentioned.

The non-tax part of the price depends on world supply and demand. BUT oil is priced in dollars and the pound has slumped in value. That puts up the price in pounds or at least negates much of the drop in world prices.

Glojo is right that oil won't run out in our lifetime. But that is not the problem. The problem is that when the recession ends and the world economy starts growing again it will not be long before world demand is greater than the max possible supply. That will cause prices to rise to choke off the excess demand -as the night follows day.

AND as speculators see that beginning to happen they may start buying oil again in large quantities as an investment. We then get demand-for-use plus demand-for-investors and the two together will no doubt exceed max possible annual output by a lot.

Car makers could help by at least appearing to take the problem seriously. They could stop making absurd 5 and 6 litre cars, ever bigger, ever faster. Agree a sensible maximum speed for cars and all stick to it. (MB tried with the 155 limit but it has failed. Not just with Bentley, Aston and so on but even with ordinary makes likes VW which is doing a 200mph Golf and Fiat no doubt will follow with a two ton Cinqecento).

Hybrids and electric cars will help, but the growth rate of China and others, and their massively rising demand for energy and for cars, are so far raising demand in normal times far faster than technology is lowering it.

 

[Roger Jones]

"BUT oil is priced in dollars and the pound has slumped in value"

Not recently:

Exchange Rates Graph (British Pound, American Dollar)

 

[alanf]

I can't help thinking that the government don't care. Last year the barrel price and the weak pound got the blame. As i see it now the pound is up around 15% against the dollar and the barrel price is down 50%. If you go on these figures fuel should be half the price it is now but Gordon and his cronies won't step in as they are getting 65p plus per litre and we blame Shell etc. I blame the greedy government.

Alan