petrol price

[mic-d]

The price of oil is down again, to US$35 a barrel and yet the price of fuel has gone up again to over $1.20/l Do you think the greedy lowlife scum sucking scabs in the oil companies are gouging while the eyes of the nation are distracted elsewhere? Or is there some logical reason for the price of fuel?

Cheers
Michael

[wolften]

...of course there is logical reason for the price of fuel at the pump to skyrocket.
The oil companies do not give a flying f*%# about the public. What more do you need to know.
Nobody knows how much it costs the oil companies to bring the fuel to the pump, nor will they divulge that nfo.
Ruddy and his predecessors, won't do anything concrete about fuel prices, because too much money is too be made from the higher prices.

[Ron Dunn]

Hey, be generous ... they're just trying to raise their annual bonuses to Wall Street levels.

[mjmjm]

Seem to remember that last year a minister in this government suggested that they would allow independent imports of petrol into the country. As a way of driving down prices. I believe it's called competition.

The proposal suffered an immediate death.

Michael

[weisyboy]

its terrible why is deisel more then fuel nevre used to be. i dont give a fig what the price it in asia we are in australia.

if any other company did what the oil companys do tehy would be put out of business so fast.

what happend to all these enquireys that ruddy set up?

[damian]

The reason there is no competition is that all the portside fuel dumps are owned by the majors, there is a lack of capacity, and no one has the $ to build more. Waterfront land and all that.

The reason we have world parity pricing is if the oil companies can sell their product in Singapore or USA or wherever for $40 a barrel but here it's restricted to $35 obviously they are going to sell it all overseas. We do produce a certain amount of light crude domestically, and it is suitable for petrol making, but it's not the cheapest oil to drill nor is it enough to supply all our needs.

We are a net energy exporter but that's because of coal.

Australia has huge oil reserves, in fact the whole thing about oil running out is a nonsense. What will happen though is it will get more expensive to drill. Ours is feasible at a certain price point, like the Canadian oil sands, but at $35 it probably isn't.

I don't like it either but there are other things with higher priority on my getting angry list, like the state of the triple 0 service here in qld and our marvelous labour government who have been running the state into the sewer for the last 10 years (not that I'm particularly liberal, I just hate their brazen corruption). Oil companies may be evil but polly's leave them for dead...

[mic-d]

When it comes to economics I don't really wish to understand the meanderings of what I believe is a totally contrived world (probably much to my detriment, I understand). Nor do I really understand the complexities of politics and their complex relationship with business and economics or really want to. I did not post with the intent of politicising this, but I guess that is my naivety. But the post so far have already raised two interesting questions for me. Please speak to me in little words that make sense Why has the government backed off from getting tough with the oil companies. One might conclude that it is corruption. Do the companies payoff the pollies, is it some form of blackmail by the companies?

There are several companies in Australia, surely that is competition, and if there is not competition, does that by implication mean there is collusion? And if we can come to such a conclusion so quickly, why can the pollies not.
I doubt I will get an answer I will understand, I much prefer to live in the natural world as much as possible

Cheers
Michael
And you might understand from the way I post, I could not be a politician

[Gra]

There are several companies in Australia, surely that is competition, and if there is not competition, does that by implication mean there is collusion? And if we can come to such a conclusion so quickly, why can the pollies not.

Suspecting a crime and proving it are two different things. This is my guys like Moran and the other underworld figures still wonder the streets (Well those that haven't been shot)

[Dion N]

The price of oil is down again, to US$35 a barrel and yet the price of fuel has gone up again to over $1.20/l Do you think the greedy lowlife scum sucking scabs in the oil companies are gouging while the eyes of the nation are distracted elsewhere? Or is there some logical reason for the price of fuel?

Cheers
Michael

The Aussie / US dollar exchange rate plays a major part in petrol pricing in Oz...

[Waldo]

Do you think the greedy lowlife scum sucking scabs in the oil companies are gouging while the eyes of the nation are distracted elsewhere? Or is there some logical reason for the price of fuel?

Cheers
Michael

Exacery. And as we all go deeper into the red, the petrol cartels are aiding and abetting the slide further into the red with prices of petrol/diesel/gas above where it should really be - and we're the poor mob who have no choice but they make us poorer by it. It makes you wonder $ above humanity at any price.

[mic-d]

The Aussie / US dollar exchange rate plays a major part in petrol pricing in Oz...

But when fuel was recently down below the dollar mark, the price of oil was higher, was the exchange rate much better than it is now?

Cheers
Michael

[The Bleeder]

Carl,

Diesel near me is at $1.18 a litre and so is unleaded. For a time diesel was nearly 30c a litre more than unleaded. So who was making a huge profit.........

[damian]

I did not post with the intent of politicising this, but I guess that is my naivety. But the post so far have already raised two interesting questions for me. Please speak to me in little words that make sense Why has the government backed off from getting tough with the oil companies. One might conclude that it is corruption. Do the companies payoff the pollies, is it some form of blackmail by the companies?

There are several companies in Australia, surely that is competition, and if there is not competition, does that by implication mean there is collusion? And if we can come to such a conclusion so quickly, why can the pollies not.
I doubt I will get an answer I will understand, I much prefer to live in the natural world as much as possible

Cheers
Michael
And you might understand from the way I post, I could not be a politician

1. It was a political and economic question so the ranting was inevitable.

2. The government has backed off from pursuing the oil companies simply because it can't prove any wrongdoing and realistically they can't do anything to stop the current situation short of a nationalised oil industry. They have tried regulating prices before, the result is oil shortages. You could try a schoolyard analogy. The teacher has certain powers over the students, but if the only football in teh school yard is owned by one of the boys if he doesn't like the rules he takes his ball and goes home. Or puts it in his schoolbag and doesn't let anyone play.

Also remember politicians only act to win public approval. If it's not a headline, or if they can't see a way to get milage out of it, it's off the agenda. This is a headline but it's hard to make yourself look like a hero if your toothless.

3. I have no doubt our politicians are corrupt. When the Hawke labour government came to power in 83 there was a revolving door of flights to Switzerland by all the big movers to sort out thier accounts. Hawke and Keeting both went as did Richardson et al. Whether actual corruption is driving this is another matter. It's more likely to be the reality.

4. There have been accusations of collusion in the Australian oil industry for decades. No one has gathered sufficient proof to mount a case let alone win.

Finally, capitalism can be very ugly, but in thruth most of us benifit from it far more than we suffer. It's really easy to lament our problems but there is always someone worse off.

[mic-d]

1. It was a political and economic question so the ranting was inevitable.

2. The government has backed off from pursuing the oil companies simply because it can't prove any wrongdoing and realistically they can't do anything to stop the current situation short of a nationalised oil industry. They have tried regulating prices before, the result is oil shortages. You could try a schoolyard analogy. The teacher has certain powers over the students, but if the only football in teh school yard is owned by one of the boys if he doesn't like the rules he takes his ball and goes home. Or puts it in his schoolbag and doesn't let anyone play.

Also remember politicians only act to win public approval. If it's not a headline, or if they can't see a way to get milage out of it, it's off the agenda. This is a headline but it's hard to make yourself look like a hero if your toothless.

3. I have no doubt our politicians are corrupt. When the Hawke labour government came to power in 83 there was a revolving door of flights to Switzerland by all the big movers to sort out thier accounts. Hawke and Keeting both went as did Richardson et al. Whether actual corruption is driving this is another matter. It's more likely to be the reality.

4. There have been accusations of collusion in the Australian oil industry for decades. No one has gathered sufficient proof to mount a case let alone win.

Finally, capitalism can be very ugly, but in thruth most of us benifit from it far more than we suffer. It's really easy to lament our problems but there is always someone worse off.

The football you are talking about is oil? You are saying they would rather cut their nose off despite their face and lose business, due to an oil shortage? That doesn't make sense given that it is still a loss of profits, whether by restricting sales or reducing price.
It may be a political question Damien, but it doesn't help to use this thread to get on your soapbox and bash the labour-side of politics, do that in your own thread.
Cheers
Michael

[damian]

The football you are talking about is oil? You are saying they would rather cut their nose off despite their face and lose business, due to an oil shortage? That doesn't make sense given that it is still a loss of profits, whether by restricting sales or reducing price.
It may be a political question Damien, but it doesn't help to use this thread to get on your soapbox and bash the labour-side of politics, do that in your own thread.
Cheers
Michael

Australia is not the only market they can sell into. As I said in my previous post not all the oil consumed in Australia is drilled in Australia. In fact a lot of our petrol is refined overseas. Why ship it here and get $35/brl if you can ship it to the US and get $40 ?

I was trying to put the petrol situation into perspective, but since you find my comments offensive someone else can answer your questions.