Fuel Prices

The other problem is that fuel sales here are but a drop in the ocean for the multinationals, they couldn't care less if we buy their fuel or not... (The following are words from a mate who is relatively high up with Shell)"In reality, you should be thankful we bothered putting service stations here in the first place".

Are you talking metro prices?

Personally I wouldn’t be too concerned I hear sh#t like that all the time.
Remember during the Iraq war we were all told that fuel was going to hit $1.30 per Ltr or something and it never happened.

Half the time it’s just the media as they have nothing else to report on they had better make up some bullsh#t about fuel going up 30cent’s in the next 2 months even know there is only .001% chance of this actually occurring.

Just like everything else they tell us it’s poorly researched and you only get half the story.

WARNING= certain figures and comment’s may not be correct as I am just rambling.

Well from another perspective am currently holidaying in Bali where the locals are screaming that fuel has jumped from 24c per litre to 32c/litre.Obviously not much govt tax in this price which is also why the roads etc have minimum upkeep and they still choose to have service stations here.
cheers Mark

Basically, the "guy from Shell" is correct. If folks stopped buying fuel in "Oz", the oil companies would tanker it to Singapore & easily flog it to anyone that was willing to pay the price. After doing that fer a while, and we still didn't buy it, they would then attempt to shut down all the refineries in "Oz" - 'cos they can refine it cheaper in other countries - and then flog it through Singapore again.

However, by then the Federal Govt would have stepped in............

I'm an ex- BP Kwinana guy myself.

Bilbo

Hi Ray,

I believe the boycotting thing is a good idea though I suspect I may be in the minority going by responses to post 19816.

Avagoodn
Pezza

i wish biodiesel was up and readily available today i am over paying $1.40c a litre.

quote from UWA website
"Renewable fuels like biodiesel are a much more sustainable source of fuel and have the potential to greatly reduce our reliance on expensive imported oil, leading to the creation of local jobs and the improvement in trade deficit. There is the potential to produce the entire of WA diesel needs (some billions of dollars per year) in Kununurra using African Oil Palm or plantations of oil tree crops in the wheat belt. This could create a whole new industry, locally owned and run, and employ thousands of farmers and related industries people in WA. It may even offer some benefit with regard to salinity problems"

it takes nothing to bypass BP and Mobil and It could just do something. The object here is to imbalance the field a little...Plus those who whinge and whine & knock ideas really are just showing their frustration with our fuel pricing policies... & who would blame them. Actions have always spoken louder than words and what has anyone got to loose by trying this? Look at what happened at Eureka... that worked after the public in general actually were appraised of the facts... Therein lies the problem, our politicians do nothing but lie to us & we accept their lies simply because we know they Lie...and even when you do get the goods on em they still try and lie there way out...now as proof... the barrel prices have fallen but the pump prices are rising...HOW COME? What have we got to loose by trying this????

Don't boycott BP and Mobil...They are NOT the two largest oil compnies in Oz..

Bp maybe but the largest oil company in Oz is Shell. And Caltex/Safeway/Woolworths is giving BP a run for it's money too.

However...Boycotts generally don't work in Oz due to the low number of refineries. About 80% of the fuel we buy in Victoria comes from the Shell refinery. They supply Shell, BP, and Caltex outlets I believe...Probably more...In other states similar arrangements apply.

See here for an explanation of why Fuel boycotts don't work. An excerpt is below.

Quote:Oil companies can manipulate their prices somewhat by controlling how much gasoline they produce and where they sell it, but they can't alter the basics of supply and demand: prices go up when people buy more of a good, and they go down when people buy less of a good. The "gas out" schemes that propose simply shunning one or two specific brands of gasoline won't work, however, because it's based on the misconception that an oil company's only outlet for gasoline is its own branded service stations. That isn't the case — gasoline is a fungible commodity, so if one oil company's product isn't being bought up in one particular market or outlet, it will simply sell its output to other companies:
End Quote

If you want to apply pressure to the oil companies over the price of fuel simply buy less. That is the ONLY thing they understand...

If you generally want to express displeasure...contact your local Federal/State MP..

A quick check on the Shell price page shows that at a price of 105.5cpl 47cpl is Government TAX! Remove that and prices will almost halve!

Peter