Petrol prices in the USA

We all deserve cheaper fuel (and vehicles), but hell........
[Quote]....."The USA will be completely self sufficient in oil/gas by 2020.......
Is this all going to stop in 5 years ?
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbblpd_a.htm

Pity the pollies here couldn't takes some initiatives from the Bush Presidency.".........
Shirley....you can't be serious !

There's a number of factors at play in the oil prices tumbling. Primarily, it's the Chinese economy slowdown (if you can still call 7% annual growth, a "slowdown"!).

The secondary factor has been the massive increase in fracking and the huge natural gas reserves found in the U.S. in the last several years.
This has the effect of reducing demand for oil products such as heating oil, because people are now using local NG for heating.

Thirdly, is the U.S. Govts constant drive for improved fuel economy from IC engines.
It's making the manufacturers get serious about fuel efficient engines - despite the Americans love of big block V8's.

Fourthly, it's surprising the uptake of electric vehicles in the U.S. It's not huge by any means, but it's on a steady upward graph.
Elon Musk is intent on making electric cars a wholly viable alternative for city dwellers, and he's got the money to make it happen.

As with anything, the application of large amounts of $$'s as Musk is quite capable of doing, will make Li-ion batteries much cheaper - and coupled with increased amounts of charging stations, and cheaper electric cars, they will eventually become a serious choice against an IC-engined car for suburban use.
I don't see IC-engines ever becoming totally redundant, but they will lose their total domination of the vehicle market.

Why Elon Musk is building a gigantic battery factory in the desert

Our prices have come down as well but not like the USA. I filled up on Friday on the northside of Brisbane for $1.397 litre....the lowest diesel price for awhile.

And around .40c of that is tax.

US states have a wide variety state sales taxes added in to a lot of things, most aren't displayed as part of the price like they are here, they are added on at the register.

Not having to pay employees super or sick leave and a wage of around $7/hr will help keep overheads down too.

BD,

While nowhere near the U.S. price, but our diesel is now quite cheap.

Diesel at local servos has been 165.9c/L for most of this year. About 4 weeks ago it dropped to 157.9, followed by another fall to 155.9. Neither E10, ULP or premium have changed from their all year levels.

Interesting that US will be self sufficient. I read years ago that they'd began to reach the end of their resources. Amazing what new technology will do, and probably a few fibs told back then. :-)

Bob

Last time the oil prices were as low as they were now , petrol and diesel prices were around the $1 mark. I was reading an article this morning which stated that when the 0.38 cents excise was frozen fuel prices were at that level.

Where is the extra 30 cents going? Into the pockets of the oil majors.

The previous poster shows that we are conditioned in Australia for prices to never go down to levels they were 10 years ago. Why not?

It is common in other countries as shown by the USA.
We are mugs in Australia and get what we deserve.
Regards Philip A

I was in the US between 1 September and 19 October. During that time the price of oil fell by around 20%, and the retail price of gasoline fell around 12%. Here in Canberra, the oil price drop resulted in a drop in retail petrol price of around 5%. I think we are being taken for a ride by the Australian oil majors.

Bruce M

Diesel at Costco in Brisbane was $139.7/l on Friday.

$2.49 a US gallon is actually 65.7c per L x 4.55= $2.92 AU per Gallon AU

Gidday

Of course any price comparison can be misleading if if doesn't take I to account factors like exchange rate and local wages.

What is cheap for Australian tourists thanks to our high wages and strong currency (though not a good as it was a year or so ago) is not so good for people in a low wage economy.

When I was in South Africa early in the year the fuel was much cheaper than Australia on a direct comparison but i suspect the locals found it horrendously expensive.

At about 9 rand to the dollar I also enjoyed the best steak I have ever eaten in my life for under $A20. I daresay the waiter who served me was probably getting the equivalent of a few dollars an hour. If that.

But that is not to say that fuel pricing in Australia is a mystery. There has never been a politician of either party who has had the wit, or the gumption to try and unravel that mystery.

Cheers

The major problem with our fuel pricing is that it is linked to the Singapore price. So firstly we would need to find out how they establish their price i guess !

Over here in the west I would like to know how they can charge $0.74/75 in Perth for LPG yet only 400kms away in Albany, customers are asked to pay almost 30 cents more per litre. It cost 30 cents per litre to transport it here????? Come on now !!!

gotta say 12 months ago we didnt see fuel anywhere near the prices you mention from memory the cheaper places were about $3.80 and up from that to about $5

So here's a question
While being self sufficient in fuel sounds good, even if we were , Australia has its fuel price based on international prices
Eg: if it can be sold for more overseas that the price they charge us locals
We will always pay more if we are based on international fuel prices ?

What is very alarming about the US is the rate at which they use the fuel. They have only 5% of the world's population but use around 25% of the world's fuel. I like Americans but they need to put the price up so they use less in my opinion. It works in Europe, fuel is quite expensive there and this leads to more fuel efficient cars and makes alternative energies more viable.