petrol price

**Sparhawk** · 13th February 2009, 10:23 AM

I recently noticed that if your Coles brand petrol station has a green sign, then that price is for E10 fuel (written in small print). I've got no problems using E10, but not all the bowsers at the servo has E10 (4 out of 12 at my local), so you can easily fill up with normal unleaded, thinking you are getting the E10 price.
- sorry to be a little OT

**toolbagsPLUS** · 13th February 2009, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by 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

Was'nt that (competition) the rational behind open market electricity, am i the only one or have others noticed a dramatic increase in power bills since the introduction of that so called competition??

Does the word cartel seem relevant

Cheers

Steve

**Vernonv** · 13th February 2009, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by mic-d

The football you are talking about is oil? You are saying they would rather cut their nose off despite their face and lose business,

Instead of putting the football in his bag, the kid takes the football to a new school with more lenient rules.
So as Damien has mentioned, if the Gubmint forces petrol prices down (beyond a certain point), the oil will simply be sold where the oil companies can get the best price for it (ie. not Australia).

Originally Posted by damian

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

That reminds me of another school yard analogy involving a kid with a bat and ball

... just teasing ...

**Big Shed** · 13th February 2009, 05:16 PM

Of course one thing that keeps the price of our fuel artificially high, and stops governments from doing nothing more than talking, is the fact that roughly half the cost of our fuel is excise and GST.(and yes Virginia, the GST is a tax on a tax

)

It is a bit difficult to go to an oil company and tell them that they are price gouging when you take the biggest cut!

As Mr Rudd has found out, it is much easier to talk tough in Opposition than it is to do something about it in Government. (whatever happened to Fuel Watch????)

**mic-d** · 13th February 2009, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by damian

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

Yeah, what-evaa. I was after a more balanced answer anyway.

Cheers
Michael

**mic-d** · 14th February 2009, 12:12 PM

I checked the last time the Singapore Conventional Premium Gasoline Spot Price (if that is with what we correlate) was about the same price as it is ATM, seems to be March 2005.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/rp15sin5d.htm

At this time the ULP price in Brisbane was about $0.95 - $1.00/lt

The exchange rate was about USD0.79/1AUD
http://www.x-rates.com/cgi-bin/hlookup.cgi

Today it is around the USD0.65/1AUD

Dollar is about 20% weaker, fuel is about 20% higher, so perhaps on this historical correlation fuel is about where it should be.
CAVEATS I don't know if this simplistic correlation is roughly correct and I don't know if the bottomline price is a fair thing.

Cheers
Michael

**mjmjm** · 14th February 2009, 12:17 PM

Hi Michael,
I deleted it. Decided it was off the point and political.

Michael

PS Book arrived. Thanks.

**mic-d** · 14th February 2009, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by mjmjm

Hi Michael,
I deleted it. Decided it was off the point and political.

Michael

PS Book arrived. Thanks.

hope there is a project or two for you in the book.

Cheers
Michael

**Dion N** · 14th February 2009, 10:06 PM

Oil / petrol prices are driven by a number of factors. I don't claim to know all of the ins and outs but here are a few things to consider.

1. OPEC members (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) meet and discusses the production levels in order to match demand and supply in order to achieve the best possible price. This pretty much amounts to a global cartel.

2. Oil is a tradeable commodity ie there are banks, investment firms, equity funds etc that buy oil "futures contracts." They never actually buy the oil, just the right to buy it at a future date and then trade the rights, which eventually end up in the hands of a company that actually buys the oil. Hence speculative investors who never handle the oil artifically alter the oil price. (a bit like residential property investors inflating house prices for owner occupiers). The recent fall in oil prices was driven, in part by a reduced demand for oil futures contracts.

3. Variations in the exchange rate affect the cost of petrol and diesel

4. The is a greater demand for petrol than diesel (at your average service station) and hence greater economies of scale for petrol vs diesel thus a price difference.

5. There are going to be cost differences between petrol and diesel due to the amount of refined product available per barrel of oil and the costs to refine the two.

6. The oil companies monitor each other's prices in Australia very closely (almost in real time) and match theirs to suit.

**weisyboy** · 14th February 2009, 10:35 PM

5. There are going to be cost differences between petrol and diesel due to the amount of refined product available per barrel of oil and the costs to refine the two.

diesel is less refined why is it so mutch dearer?

i used to be half the price.

**blonk** · 15th February 2009, 07:09 AM

These days, diesel goes through a pretty thorough refining process in order to meet minimum sulphur requirements. I beleive the biggest hit from diesel is the beloved government charrging a significantly larger tariff than on regular fuel

**Dion N** · 17th February 2009, 09:58 PM

As previously stated - the price here is based on the Singapore price. Hence our price reflects the level of supply and demand in Asia. If you have been listening to the news recently you may have noticed that the TAPAS Crude price (Singapore) was around $50+ / barrel whereas the NOMEX Crude price (America) was around $37 / barrel which perhaps is due to a drop in US demand driven by their recession. The growing numbers of middle class Asians seems to indicate a continuing demand for cars and oil in Asia... which translates to higher prices for us

**Big Shed** · 18th February 2009, 10:28 AM

..........and more to come!

**Waldo** · 18th February 2009, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by Big Shed

..........and more to come!

Which if I'm not mistaken, was another one of Keating's had-to-have scenarios.

Pollies forget that they're in for a short time and often do things that affect long past their terms of office.

A day will come and we'll be cutting the floors out of our cars and doing a Fred Flintstone.

**Big Shed** · 18th February 2009, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by Waldo

A day will come and we'll be cutting the floors out of our cars and doing a Fred Flintstone.

Or do as I have done for the past 25+ years, and run your car on LPG. Especially now with Howards LPG bonus the average cost of conversion is less than $500, recouped in less than 6 months of driving. People spend more on mag wheels or fancy tyres without even thinking about it.

As an example, I run a VZ Commodore with factory (vapour injection) LPG. In roughly 21000km of driving my savings are $1800. As I bought the car 1 year old with the gas already on it, at no extra cost to a petrol model, that is tax free money in the bank

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