$107.89 a barrel.....so, why are pump prices rising again?

$107.89 a barrel.....so, why are pump prices rising again?

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Discussion

Apache

Original Poster:

39,731 posts

290 months

Badgerboy

1,790 posts

198 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Well it's not like they purchase, refine the oil, turn it into petrol, and ship it to the garage the same day. Imagine they purchase it in advance, and we are still getting the follow on from the previous higher prices.

Plus they are a business, and they are never fast to reduce their prices.

dgb00

147 posts

276 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Oil is traded in US$, and the £ is getting weaker against the US$, so that would account for a bit.

And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.

Mighty Mini

46 posts

217 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
I think the petrol producers are waiting for the result of a meeting of OPEC, I think the oil prices may well go up again in the next week or so.

Edited by Mighty Mini on Friday 5th September 09:25

Landlord

12,689 posts

263 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
I seem to remember someone (the petrol companies IIRC) saying that when prices rise, they absorb the increase for as long as possible because they care about us motorists but, therefore, they don't pass on the decreases immediately to compensate.

But what this means, essentially, is they don't care about the motorist at all. All they're doing is postponing when they get their money. If they really cared about us, they'd soak up the increase for as long as possible but pass on the decrease as soon as possible (I realise this is not a workable business model but I resented the inference that the companies were benevolent).

Edited by Landlord on Friday 5th September 09:27

Swillsy

181 posts

193 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Nu labour:P

+ currency changes 1.77!!

off_again

12,790 posts

240 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
dgb00 said:
And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.
Maybe, but at the moment they need to be on the offensive for PR.

They run the risk of being singled out as the cause for high fuel prices, and this could lead to some major issues for their business in the long term. Think forced break-up of the businesses, increased regulation, windfall taxes and the like - they face some extraordinary times and as a whole they need to be very careful.

Increased taxes for oil companies are a very real prospect around the world, and if the public sees them being greedy then its more likely to happen. The problem is that they often have very little control of what the end-user price is. Retailers often profiteer and governments charge massive amounts of tax, but it is the oil companies who get singled out....

Dangerous times.

Timmy35

12,915 posts

204 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
dgb00 said:
And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.
Yes they are greedy, what they want to do is push prices up so high that no one buys any petrol. The when no one can buy any petrol they're going to use the petrol they've saved to buy all of the food and sell that for 1000's of times more than current prices.

I read it on the internet.

yes I have completely given up on answering posts like this sensibly, as there seem to be about 10 a week of them.


Edited by Timmy35 on Friday 5th September 09:35

xiphias

5,888 posts

233 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
New World Order.

It's true.

chris_w666

22,655 posts

205 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Timmy35 said:
dgb00 said:
And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.
Yes they are greedy, what they want to do is push prices up so high that no one buys any petrol. The when no one can buy any petrol they're going to use the petrol they've saved to buy all of the food and sell that for 1000's of times more than current prices.

I read it on the internet.

yes I have completely given up on answering posts like this sensibly, as there seem to be about 10 a week of them.


Edited by Timmy35 on Friday 5th September 09:35
Great stuff I have £100 to invest do you reccomend Oil, Gas or Mars Bars as the strongest prospect?

xiphias

5,888 posts

233 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
chris_w666 said:
Timmy35 said:
dgb00 said:
And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.
Yes they are greedy, what they want to do is push prices up so high that no one buys any petrol. The when no one can buy any petrol they're going to use the petrol they've saved to buy all of the food and sell that for 1000's of times more than current prices.

I read it on the internet.

yes I have completely given up on answering posts like this sensibly, as there seem to be about 10 a week of them.
Great stuff I have £100 to invest do you reccomend Oil, Gas or Mars Bars as the strongest prospect?
Stick it on Black.

chris_w666

22,655 posts

205 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
xiphias said:
chris_w666 said:
Timmy35 said:
dgb00 said:
And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.
Yes they are greedy, what they want to do is push prices up so high that no one buys any petrol. The when no one can buy any petrol they're going to use the petrol they've saved to buy all of the food and sell that for 1000's of times more than current prices.

I read it on the internet.

yes I have completely given up on answering posts like this sensibly, as there seem to be about 10 a week of them.
Great stuff I have £100 to invest do you reccomend Oil, Gas or Mars Bars as the strongest prospect?
Stick it on Black.
I usually Go half on red and half on Zero. Bugger no wonder I lose.

DoctorFan

276 posts

205 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Because oil rich Middle Eastern families keep buying Premiership football clubs and need the money to massage the egos of the pampered footballersmile

dgb00

147 posts

276 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
off_again said:
dgb00 said:
And I suspect the oil companies are just greedy.
Maybe, but at the moment they need to be on the offensive for PR.

They run the risk of being singled out as the cause for high fuel prices, and this could lead to some major issues for their business in the long term. Think forced break-up of the businesses, increased regulation, windfall taxes and the like - they face some extraordinary times and as a whole they need to be very careful.

Increased taxes for oil companies are a very real prospect around the world, and if the public sees them being greedy then its more likely to happen. The problem is that they often have very little control of what the end-user price is. Retailers often profiteer and governments charge massive amounts of tax, but it is the oil companies who get singled out....

Dangerous times.
True. I can't blame them for it - they are a business and provide a product. Quite frankly, for a litre of processed hydrocarbons to end up in my petrol tank, having started off as dead fish under the seabed, for only £1.09 is a bargain.

Timmy35

12,915 posts

204 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
chris_w666 said:
Great stuff I have £100 to invest do you reccomend Oil, Gas or Mars Bars as the strongest prospect?
Well personally I'd suggest you invest it in 6 sex sessions with prostitutes ( at £15 a go ) and you'll still have £10 left over for a cigar and a pint afterwards.

off_again

12,790 posts

240 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
dgb00 said:
True. I can't blame them for it - they are a business and provide a product. Quite frankly, for a litre of processed hydrocarbons to end up in my petrol tank, having started off as dead fish under the seabed, for only £1.09 is a bargain.
Yeah, but it gets worse, take off the 75% government tax and the 2% margin for the retailer and then you have a spectacular figure where they have to get it out of the ground / sea, transport it, refine it, transport it again, store it and then sell it to the general public.

Its cheaper than milk and water.....

And we aren't running out of it either!

clonmult

10,529 posts

215 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Badgerboy said:
Well it's not like they purchase, refine the oil, turn it into petrol, and ship it to the garage the same day. Imagine they purchase it in advance, and we are still getting the follow on from the previous higher prices.

Plus they are a business, and they are never fast to reduce their prices.
Its mainly the latter though.

When the price per barrel rises, the forecourt price jumps almost immediately. Any drops in price of oil do not see a similarly rapid drop in price.

chris_w666

22,655 posts

205 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
Timmy35 said:
chris_w666 said:
Great stuff I have £100 to invest do you reccomend Oil, Gas or Mars Bars as the strongest prospect?
Well personally I'd suggest you invest it in 6 sex sessions with prostitutes ( at £15 a go ) and you'll still have £10 left over for a cigar and a pint afterwards.
Cheers, I am off to catch the bad aids.

crossle

1,520 posts

257 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
clonmult said:
When the price per barrel rises, the forecourt price jumps almost immediately. Any drops in price of oil do not see a similarly rapid drop in price.
It would be interesting to see a graph of price against time, with profiles for crude oil and petrol, to see if this theory is actually true? Any boffins out there got access to the data?

My feeling is that we NOTICE immediately when the price goes up, but small falls do not registier in our consciousness straight away?


Timmy35

12,915 posts

204 months

Friday 5th September 2008
quotequote all
crossle said:
My feeling is that we NOTICE immediately when the price goes up, but small falls do not registier in our consciousness straight away?
Yup. The retailers spreads remain fairly constant. Price moves obviuosly lag the spot oil price, but they do follow it.