Fuel

[roy4eyes]

Just got back from Lagoa and seen the price of fuel - 95 octane up to € 1.40 from yesterdays € 1.35 !!

Makes the cost in UK at £ 1.23 seem cheap

[Gambrinus]

Hi Roy!

A friend told me that some the petrol companies now do weekend discounts of 5 to 6 cents. I fueled up with diesel at 1.21€ on Friday only to find that it cost 1.16€ on Sunday.

[Gary/Gaynor]

€1.49 plus over here Thats why pushbikes are so popular

Gary

[jeremy]

Roy, G - perhaps you will have to resort to this:



Have Algarvedriver got any ?

[EMM]

UK news this am, Petrol soon to reach record prices , WHY ???

[Bristle Si]

UK news this am, Petrol soon to reach record prices , WHY ???

Price of a barrel of oil has rocketed in recent weeks - speculators pushing up price. The level of economic demand in the world does not warrant it's current price.

we were in Torquay at the end of January and in the bay out from Brixham and Torquay there were 12 tankers dropped anchor, just sitting there. And there were more out on the English Channel horizon. They're told to sit there and wait for the price to rise before docking at nearest 'oil' refinery port and then get 'best price' - this might sound a bit of fantasy talk, but believe me it's true.

In UK we're due a 3p on a litre price rise as part of previous budget - will the govt 'put it off' because of pending election though?

These price rises will not help Labour to retain power and with house prices stagnating once again consumer confidence wil take a dip after increases through the last few months.

[cereza]

The excuses being trotted out are :-
1. Shortage of refining capacity
2. Weakness of the pound (or euro) against the US$ in which oil is priced
3. In the UK there is going to be a 3p per litre tax increase in April.

The international price actually dropped a bit this week so this blaming of speculators doesn't really hold water.

I imagine that things can only get worse

[Gary/Gaynor]

The excuses being trotted out are :-
1. Shortage of refining capacity
2. Weakness of the pound (or euro) against the US$ in which oil is priced
3. In the UK there is going to be a 3p per litre tax increase in April.

The international price actually dropped a bit this week so this blaming of speculators doesn't really hold water.

I imagine that things can only get worse

4. China

Gary

[HampshireRich]

The current cost of oil per barrel has no real relation to the current price at the pumps. That fuel was purchased and processed a long time ago.

At Fawley refinery, just outside Southampton, oil tankers fully laden have been berthed for months, refusing to unload until they can get a higher price from the refineries.

The reasons for the high prices are taxes and profiteering - oil was $150 per barrel 2 years ago, yet petrol was less then than now.

[Bristle Si]

The excuses being trotted out are :-
1. Shortage of refining capacity
2. Weakness of the pound (or euro) against the US$ in which oil is priced
3. In the UK there is going to be a 3p per litre tax increase in April.

The international price actually dropped a bit this week so this blaming of speculators doesn't really hold water.

I imagine that things can only get worse

If you read my post again, you'll see that i was referring to something i noticed nearly 7 weeks ago, plus i'd read before Xmas this was happening. The price in the last few months HAS been driven up by the commodity speculators - global economic demand still subdued.

Plus, oil/petrol is bought a few weeks in advance of the stuff going into petrol stations, so the price today reflects wholesale price when bought about 3/4 weeks ago - in a nutshell there's a timelag between petrol stations actually purchasing and selling to the public at the pumps.

[cereza]

Bristol Si - your comment about the tankers waiting off the south coast is quite correct - it has been going on for a while but a lot of it is due to the fact that the oil market was in a "contango" which means that future prices were higher than spot prices with enough difference to make it profitable to buy physical oil , sell the same but for future delivery then hold the stock in tankers and wait to deliver it at the future date - it was an almost failproof way of making money.
Some of the stock held on these tankers IS purely speculative but any increase in the crude price has not been enough to justify the increase in retail petrol prices.
Hampshire Rich is right - the increases are due to profiteering and taxes. How can we now be looking at petrol prices higher than when crude was almost 100% higher than todays price less than 2 years ago when the currency has only dropped 30% !!!!

[bazza]

I agree that it is not to do with world oil prices. I moved from the Algarve to OZ in Feb 2008 on arrival bought a car and filled up with 95 unleaded @$1 19cents per litre. I filled up today and paid $1 21cents per litre and in the last 8 months we have lost a government subsidy on fuel of 8 cents so in real terms it could have been $1 13 cents. !!!Now with the exchange rate of $1 65 ( OZ Dollar ) to the £ this equates to 72p per litre. CRIKEY !! AWESOME !! I had better shut up or you lot will be driving over to fill up and drive up the price. Seriously though it is not world oil prices.

[Gary/Gaynor]

Fuel Duty = 56p

Market Petrol Supply Price = 37p

VAT = 17p

Forecourts = 6p

Petrol Price Total £1.16p

Gary

[widge]

Don't think the maths works?

If it retails at £1.16 then the VAT must be 17.5% = 20 pence?

[Gary/Gaynor]

Widge the VAT is worked out on the 99p price. I dont think you can charge VAT on VAT

Gary