[Archived] Oil

[Stuart]

Continuing the motoring theme at the minute...

I couldn't believe the price of unleaded as I pulled into Tesco tonight. £108.9 per litre - wasn't that long since blockages were being held for a lot less.

This despite the barrel price coming down to $80 from $100 recently.

According to this it's down to 10 oil and gas vessels anchored in Devon, waiting for prices to rise before delivering!

Cheeky so-and-so's are trying to squeeze extra profits out of us Brits. Marvellous isn't it, in the middle of the worst recession EVER and, running up to Christmas, we are being milked like cash cows.

To pass the 110p mark soon

[Paul]

It went to £1.14 on the Charnock Richard services several weeks ago.

[ABBEY]

blockade time again methinks.

[Stuart]

It went to £1.14 on the Charnock Richard services several weeks ago.

In fairness, motorway services always inflate their prices. National supermarkets on the other hand are normally falling over themselves to out pump each other.

[Neil Weaver]

There are probably other things this applies to but it really bugs me about petrol........

Most of the price of a litre of petrol is tax. Then VAT is added to the price and that's what we end up paying. Course the money you pay with is earnt so that'ts been taxed before it reaches you. And if you're lucky enough to have put those earnings into savings before withdrawing them and paying for your petrol, your brass was taxed whilst it was earning interest too. And all that tax is so wisely spent.

[colin]

You might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

The Earth we live on isn't making oil any more.

The discovery of new oilfield peaked in the 1960s

What's left is proving more difficult and therefore more expensive to extract.

The expanding economies of China; India; other countries in the Far East & South America are wanting more & more of the stuff.

Demand is increasing, supply is dwindling, so the price goes up. What's so difficult to understand about that?

[Stuart]

You might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

The Earth we live on isn't making oil any more.

The discovery of new oilfield peaked in the 1960s

What's left is proving more difficult and therefore more expensive to extract.

The expanding economies of China; India; other countries in the Far East & South America are wanting more & more of the stuff.

Demand is increasing, supply is dwindling, so the price goes up. What's so difficult to understand about that?

Good points you make Colin but in this case the price is being artificially inflated by withholding of deliveries. Plus the oil price per barrel is LOWER now yet is higher at the pump.

If the barrel prices were higher your point would be more relevant.

[DP]

A couple of small tankers off the coast of Devon isn't affecting petrol prices.

Taxes go up each year, and this year the price of oil has been slowly moving up to its recent yearly high of $80 a barrel. The dollar is weak but so is the pound, so we don't get the conversion saving we were getting 18 months ago. China's thirst for growth has pretty much saved the Economic world, and the rallying stock markets have been lead by Commodities. It's certainly helped consumer confidence, the housing market, and hopefully the manufacturing sector will follow. Unfortunately it comes as a cost as high fuel prices are here to stay.

Colin is right as well. Natural resources aren't infinte (although we've got a lot more of some than we have of others) and realistically the only way consumers habbits are going to change is if it hits them in the pocket. If people can't put less petrol in their cars then they have to offset that cost by being more energy efficient in other aspects of their lives. How many people can honestly say they make a conscious effort to save energy in the home? I know I don't.

What is annoying is that I can go to work via car or train, and because I'm reverse commuting it takes around the same time, a bit quicker to drive. The crazy thing is, it costs around 15 quid a week more to get the train, as they still charge the peak fair even though I'm going in the opposite direction to all the commuters going in to London. Just doesn't make sense.

[broadsword]

The trains run at peak frequency though, even if it's in the "wrong" direction.

It is a good point though that if they want to get people out of cars, there needs to be a financial incentive.

[Baz]

One of the biggest lies or mis-truths today lies in the oil industry between reserves and resources.

Reserves as printed in the press are those oil deposits known as being economically viable at the present moment, resources are the actual amounts known about (much, much higher).

Those economically viable can change more or less day to day, and obviously are therefore used as scare-mongering to increase the oil barrel price, but as the oil price increases so to does the amount economically viable (profitable).

Although only relatively few "major" finds have been found in the past few years, that is because the majority of locations have been already found and will become economically viable as the easier targets have been utilised.

I wouldn't be so scared of oil reserves "running out" as the oil companies (profit driven) and the media (inept) report.

I particularly love these recent "eCommericals" where companies talk about their investment in environmentally friendly energy, whereas they are spending over 1000% more on looking for fossil fuels than e-solutions.

But also - as commented above - the fuel tax in this country is massive in comparison to actual fuel costs.

[BiggusLaddus]

Current high prices are as much to do with the exchange rate as anything else.

The fuel in the pumps now will have been extracted 6mths ago when the crude price was down at about $50/barrel. Middle of last year when it spiked it was up at $130. Apart from a bit of profiteering from the fuel companies, the other thing that has changed is the arse falling out of the value of the pound.

[Stuart]

Current high prices are as much to do with the exchange rate as anything else.

The fuel in the pumps now will have been extracted 6mths ago when the crude price was down at about $50/barrel. Middle of last year when it spiked it was up at $130. Apart from a bit of profiteering from the fuel companies, the other thing that has changed is the arse falling out of the value of the pound.

Seems a decent explanation but if that's the case, why was it that the last time we saw the barrel spike, the rise at the pumps was pretty much immediate? I suspect the bit in bold has a lot to do with it!

[colin]

Baz.

Although only relatively few "major" finds have been found in the past few years, that is because the majority of locations have been

already found and will become economically viable as the easier targets have been utilised.

That's fine for the oil companies who will pass on the price of increased scarcity of oil and the increased expense of extracting it now

that the "easy stuff" has been found & exploited. The North Sea oil field is now dying off as production rates fall. The Canadian Tar Sands

oil extraction is a great example of finding oil that is difficult to extract; environmentaly ruinous & expensive.

I wouldn't be so scared of oil reserves "running out" as the oil companies (profit driven) and the media (inept) report.

I don't think "scared" is the operative word. There is an inevitability that the world's oil reserves will eventually be depleted.

The world is not making oil any more. We are using the stuff like it's endless. It's not. There is only one conclusion. Oil gone. Oh!