Fuel Prices Up Again?

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jaymz

1133 posts

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#78793 8-Mar-2011 10:55

As you all may have noticed, fuel prices have gone up 5cents overnight.

Now, I can understand why they prices have gone up. Overseas crisis/poor NZ dollar. This will push up the price of oil, and fuel respectivly.

However there are a couple of things I dont understand.

1. Lybia produces 1.8million barrels of oil a day of the 88million worldwide. Their oil is higher quality and is best suited for diesel production. With this in mind, why does the cost of petrol rise, and not just diesel?

2. It seems to me, that oil companies are very quick to put prices up as soon as the dollar weakens/overseas crisis starts, however they don't seem to be as quick to drop the prices back down when things get better?

One other thing that I don't understand is why NZ fuel prices rise so quickly, when our closet neighbour remains stable? Do they have different supplies of oil, or do their companies absorb more of the fluctuations?

My thoughts on it anyway.

What are yours?

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4098 posts

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#446587 8-Mar-2011 11:24

My thoughts?
We should have talked to a couple of the larger car makes a few years ago and made our roads and power grid available to them as a test bed for electric vehicles.

Surely we would have been quite a good little lab for them and the plus side would be that we could reduce our dependence on oil.

How much of the countries wealth goes overseas each year to oil companies? I have always wanted to know what the books would look like if we managed to significantly reduce that figure....

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tigercorp

668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#446597 8-Mar-2011 11:49

jaymz: ...

My thoughts on it anyway.

What are yours?

My thoughts are, I'm really glad I work 95% of the time from home.

Cyris

121 posts

Master Geek

#446598 8-Mar-2011 11:50

My thoughts are, "Note to self: Make sure to collect all 4cents off petrol vouchers from Pak 'n Save"

jaymz

1133 posts

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#446600 8-Mar-2011 11:56

tigercorp:
jaymz: ...

My thoughts on it anyway.

What are yours?

My thoughts are, I'm really glad I work 95% of the time from home.

Yeah, I am glad that I have a company car and fuel card! I feel for people who are already finding it hard to pay for fuel.

jjnz1

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#446601 8-Mar-2011 12:13

What really pisses me off is that it seems that yesterdays media expose on petrol prices rising, gave the petrol companies an excuse to raise the price today...

I think the government needs to step in with an SOE that solely deals with the importation of oil/petrol into NZ (creating a monopoly), so that BP,Shell etc only deal with internal distribution and retail.

Cut out the middle man to make sure prices are in fact fair.

Also, has anyone bothered to look at the last financial statements of the major oil players over the last few years? Why the hell have they been increasing their profits? RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

kingjj

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#446628 8-Mar-2011 12:48

One solution if you don't wanna pay that extra 5 cents a litre is to move to Chch, our price is still nice and low :-D

old3eyes

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#446631 8-Mar-2011 12:50

jjnz1: What really pisses me off is that it seems that yesterdays media expose on petrol prices rising, gave the petrol companies an excuse to raise the price today...

I think the government needs to step in with an SOE that solely deals with the importation of oil/petrol into NZ (creating a monopoly), so that BP,Shell etc only deal with internal distribution and retail.

Cut out the middle man to make sure prices are in fact fair.

Also, has anyone bothered to look at the last financial statements of the major oil players over the last few years? Why the hell have they been increasing their profits? RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Isn't Shell a sort of SOE?? But your correct. The old companies fly in a tanker every nite from the middle east just so we can get the latest pricing but when oil drops then they ship it on a slow boat to china so that we can benefit from the higher prices longer..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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alasta

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#446638 8-Mar-2011 13:11

jjnz1: Also, has anyone bothered to look at the last financial statements of the major oil players over the last few years? Why the hell have they been increasing their profits? RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Probably because they have diversified.

Blaming the oil companies or the government is indicative of not wanting to face the reality that oil is scarce, and increasingly so.

maxeon

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#446653 8-Mar-2011 14:19

alasta:
jjnz1: Also, has anyone bothered to look at the last financial statements of the major oil players over the last few years? Why the hell have they been increasing their profits? RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Probably because they have diversified.

Blaming the oil companies or the government is indicative of not wanting to face the reality that oil is scarce, and increasingly so.

heavenlywild

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#446657 8-Mar-2011 14:27

There's been way too much talk about fuel prices in the media and online. Instead of getting frustrated over pricing, I have taken the "just accept it" approach. There are easy ways of "recovering" the extra costs - one less drink at the pub, never buy bleeding edge technology upon release, more dvds than going to the movies etc.

I have budged my finances to cope with the eventual $2.50/L price without having to change my lifestyle.

mattwnz

20164 posts

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#446659 8-Mar-2011 14:36

If the OCR drops down, like it is expected to due to the EQ, the cost of fuel will no doubt rise more as the dollar drops.

It just makes the cost of living higher, and means people have less to spend on other things, which affects the economy, and Chch businesses need people to spend. For every action there is an opposite reaction.

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#446660 8-Mar-2011 14:37

dusted off the bicycle and rode to work today. Petrol prices are now high enough for me to change my behaviour in terms of when and where I will drive. Have to say, bike felt good and I am looking forward to riding home and not getting stuck on the Auckland motorway like I do most days.

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jaymz

1133 posts

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#446661 8-Mar-2011 14:39

heavenlywild: There's been way too much talk about fuel prices in the media and online. Instead of getting frustrated over pricing, I have taken the "just accept it" approach. There are easy ways of "recovering" the extra costs - one less drink at the pub, never buy bleeding edge technology upon release, more dvds than going to the movies etc.

I have budged my finances to cope with the eventual $2.50/L price without having to change my lifestyle.

Don't get me wrong, this post was not a compaint over how much fuel costs/why it has gone up. It was more voicing my thoughts about "why it seems to go up quickly, but doesn't seem to drop as quickly" since most oil companies blame economic factors in raising the price of fuel.

Personally I don't mind the cost at the pumps, it has acutally worked out better for me. Rather than drive to the supermarket for small shops, I will walk.

Batman

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#446662 8-Mar-2011 14:41

My conspiracy theory: we're not running out of oil ... Not in my lifetime ... But the companies use this as an excuse to rip the world off. Their profits? Hundreds of billions a year.

They also Control car manufacturers such that if they dare invent electric cars they'd be shot ... But since they can't just shoot people nowadays we see electric cars being invented here and there but far from enough to reduce oil profits

nakedmolerat

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#446664 8-Mar-2011 14:43

alasta: .... to face the reality that oil is scarce, and increasingly so.

this is what they want you to believe. finite resource? maybe. scarce? no. we explore and find new well every year.

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