Will petrol ever go down?

[Saracen]

The Gord' giveth, .....

If you voted for em, well its your own stupid fault.

To be fair, and I'm certainly no Brown fan, I doubt whoever is in power will make much difference to fuel duty levels. Like booze and tobacco, it's a popular target for duty rises because they're all relatively price-inelastic. They clobber them because they know it works. We moan about it for a while, cut back for a few weeks and then go right back to where we were before. And repeat, a few months later.

A change in government might help exchange rates long-term though. Maybe.

[[GSV]Trig]

Petrol is shocking, I was stood at BP the otherday and noticed the BP Ultimate stuff was 127.9, I nearly shat myself, this was the stuff I used to put in the Turbo and was about 86p the last time I filled it up, mind that was coming up for 4 years ago now really shuld get it back on the road, I'll have to insure it on a classic policy tho and with limited mileage otherwise I'll not be able to insure/tax/fuel it

[Tumble]

unleaded is around 123.9-124.9 here atm.. Diesel's up at 126.9 at most places (one garage has it on for 129.9!!!!!). Most V-power/Excellium/good stuff is at 128.9

Glad I got a fuel card!

[kalniel]

Ouch, that's quite bad tumble!

I'm slightly annoyed at the way the prices have leapt up in advance of the fuel duty rise. It's only 1p duty, but prices have gone up 6p a litre in the previous 5 days where I am. I guess that might be currency effects though.

The previous record UK average high for unleaded was 119.7p in July 2008, when global crude oil prices were also at an all-time high – close to $150 (£100) a barrel. Crude oil prices are currently about $80, but prices are still at the same level.

[Russ]

Ultimate Diesel was 121.9 in sunny Norwich yestrday :'(

[peterb]

Ouch, that's quite bad tumble!

I'm slightly annoyed at the way the prices have leapt up in advance of the fuel duty rise. It's only 1p duty, but prices have gone up 6p a litre in the previous 5 days where I am. I guess that might be currency effects though.

There was something about that on the radio this morning - relating to the claw back of a 1p/litre incentive for biofuel refiners. Biofuel can be blended with conventional fuel. There are some details here - but this is a petroleum industry web site, so while the facts may be correct, the spin/interpretaion may not be!

However, I don't think we will ever see petrol/diesel at under £1/litre again. The current chancellor has already pledged to raise the duty in line with the rate of inflation plus 1p over the next few years.

In 2007 approximately 70% of the cost at the4 pump was duty and VAT. Source: http://www.petrolprices.com/fuel-tax.html

[Georgy291]

SWANSEA.......cheapest petrol in britain

i think were just past 1.10 mark in some places

[kalniel]

SWANSEA.......cheapest petrol in britain

i think were just past 1.10 mark in some places

Compensation.

[kalniel]

In 2007 approximately 70% of the cost at the4 pump was duty and VAT. Source: http://www.petrolprices.com/fuel-tax.html

But now it's gone down to nearer 60%:

"In 2000, the fuel tax was 73.5%. And now, it's running at about 60%. So tax on fuel, as a percentage, is actually lower at the moment."

[peterb]

Yes it has - now about 64% - depending on the fuel type. But that is small consolation when fill up! I certainly won't be thinking "Oh good, only 64 % of my large fuel bill is going in tax, while 2 years ago, 70% of my smaller fuel bill was tax"!

Fuel duty in 2007 on low sulphur petrol and diesel was 50.35p/litre In 2009 it has risen to 56.9p/litre. (That excludes VAT which is added to the cost of the fuel AND the duty)

The web site doesn't make a clear differentiation between Duty and VAT, but the graph (which only goes to 2007) shows the ratio of tax to basic fuel cost.

From the graph, in 2007 the cost of a litre of fuel, without any tax was about 42p. Assuming that the cost hasn't risen (not really valid because of exchange rate fluctuations - oil is priced in US dollars) but a litre of fuel would cost (42+56.9)*1.175 - which is 116.2p - which is not far off the actual price at the pumps. That makes the total tax as about 75p/l which is about 64%.

So that is why I think it is unlikely that fuel prices will ever drop below £1/litre.

[Chris P]

This e-mail found it's way into my Inbox.....

"

The price of oil is as low as it has been for a while, the oil companies have simply jacked their prices up and the government will not do anything as they rake in extra VAT for every increase.

See what you think and pass it on if you agree with it, we are hitting 123.9 a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with paying 1.50 a ltr. Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.

Please read it and join in!

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place not sellers.

With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol!

And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP.

If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact we need to reach literally millions of ESSO and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!!

Now, don't wimp out at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ...

THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all YOU have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.(and not buy at ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!! Acting together we can make a difference . If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 90p a LITRE.

It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons Jet etc. i.e.. Boycott BP and ESSO.

Many Thanks & Kind Regards

"

[kalniel]

Who do Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons etc. get their petrol from?

[Platinum]

Who do Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons etc. get their petrol from?

Exactly , the big oil company's wont care if you don't buy direct because you are still indirectly buying from them.

[Kata]

Shell, for one, get their petrol from Shell.

For approximately every barrel of oil produced from the ground, Shell refine 2 barrels, and retail 4 (due, obviously, to buying more in).

The petrol market in the UK is ridiculously low-margin, and competitive; the oil companies are not raking in huge profits from it, and its hard enough trying to break even. It's only worth being in it at all due to the high volumes. Fierce competition for an identical product ensures that the price paid is the lowest feasible price for the supplier to sell at, and not make a loss.

The vastly overwhelming majority of profit for oil companies comes from upstream; ie. producing the oil, and not from downstream (refining and sales).

[finlay666]

ignore... too late, kalniel said it first

[Chris P]

Don't shoot the messenger