I'm cynical about the 'low' fuel prices....

Dunno Beware.Just go to work pay what u gotta pay go home afta work relax go to bed sleep get up in mornin' got to work.Same routine day in day out ,so i shut up pay up along with every thing else.Then try & enjoy life some how on w/ends.
R/scooter.

Bware (Tweed Valley)

I think you are right when people Unite you can change almost any thing there is the saying “United We Stand Divvied We Fall” but lets look at the real motivation for the drop in fuel prices.

I believe it is because the government is preparing for an election and it wants the people to think that fuel has gone down. But remember only about 12 to 18 months ago we where paying under 80cents per litre for both ULP and Diesel

People Don’t Be Coned fuel prices are being used as a political tool just like:

Interest rates

Children over Board

Weapons of mass destruction

War on terra

The wheat board

Attack on workers rights

Think About It People Don’t Be Coned Vote This Howard Government Out

Thanks

BBB

OPEC have just cut production by 1 million barrels a day. It seems that anything less than $60-$70 a barrel isn't enough.
Now watch fuel prices hit the roof again !

Bware and obviously BBB above, you obviously don't remember what happened to the prices when the Israelis attacked into Lebanon. The price actually went up as it did following the start of the US invasion. It brought about market uncertainty and a demand for fuel and suppliers holding back to assure some supplies too. They were using the opportunity to screw us.

Nothing to do with Howard or Beasley or anyone else here.

The weekend situation here is between the wholesale delivery and the retailer at the servo. It is the local situation where the prices fluctuate. No where else. It is the demand and opportunity cost.

BBB we can see where your prejudices are mate.

Ok - the oil companies are raking in huge profits - but - I reckon so are the garage owners, they are the ones shifting those price tags up and down depending on what day of the week it is.

Fuel prices fluctuate from ULP 1.15/L to 1.29/L - Monday to Sunday & Diesel moves around 1.29/L to 1.34/L

I do feel the owners of these garages are playing the profiteering game as much as the suppliers.

Vinnie

Two more things that effect priceing.

1. Cold climate countries stock up (fill their bulk tanks) just BEFORE the northern winter so there is less demand during the northern winter.

2. The oil companies pay for their bulk supplies in $US before the super carriers leave the Arabian Gulf. So even though the new oil stock has still got several weeks travel before it actually arrives at the refinery it has already been paid for.

Hi All
The government is laughing all the way to the Bank as they get there GST 10% of all of us ,so why don't we attack our local Member with lots of Email to get a fair Price, I bet if our local corner grocer or other business Put there Prices up each weekend, to cash in the weekend trade ,we would soon stop trading with them.
I also believe all the Oil Companies fix the prices ( it is strange how they all change @ the same time).Concrete Companies fixed Prices years ago and the Government Watch dog took them to court & fined them Big time. SO IT is AGAINST the LAW.
Also where are the Truckers,Fisherman,Farmers & many others , they all are a body of hard workers who are also having a hard time to make a living due to diesel been dearer than petrol (or is dear to make diesel now, I don,t Think so)
People power can bring a fair price.
As I am retired if any one what's to complain about this ,I will forward any complaint on to the Local Member & Opposition Member in my area Sun shine Coast Queensland if you don,t wish to do this yourself.
As most 4WD members , We have seen so many oil wells caped for the future in Australia , it might be time to use our oil.

The oil companies are quite happy to drop the prices after they have been to record highs.

When at record highs, they were profiteering, no doubt. John Howard was never unhappy about that, because every dollar profit made by the oil companies means $0.30 extra taxes.

Now that the price per barrel is reducing, they are profiteering even more - from a high rip-off base, they are not passing on the full amount, hence increasing their gross margin even more. This is from a base of lower outlay per litre, driving up the profits on that basis as well.

Gentlemen, every time we start our engines, that unwelcome feeling we get is real - we are being comprehensively reamed.

Dont worry, Xmas is around the corner, and you should already know what's inside the gift wrapping from the oil companies.

I work for one of the major oil companies and threads like this just make me laugh. The ignorance and simplistic views of some people makes me wonder how they actually function in the real world. I love the political conspiracy theories as well. Some of you really watch to much TV.

Hi all
Old information I found on the net when Fuel in some States got $1.40
Even in QLD, Australia’s cheapest state when it comes to fuel, prices are nearing the $1.40/L mark. When I first came to Australia in 1993, Fuel was around $0.60/L. In about 13 years, fuel has more than doubled in price. Mainly thanks to the fact that our Fuel Prices are linked to the Singapore Fuel market. This seems to be because the Asian fuel market is far more volatile and hence it gives the fuel companies more reason to increase prices. So at $1.40/L where is all that money going to? Sure the sheiks in Saudi Arabia are driving Ferraris, BMWs and Audis made out of silver but they can’t be taking in all that $1.40! So who is taking your money? After some research this is what I found :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Given Fuel is $1.40 the following entities take their share of the price :

Singapore International Price : ~$0.73

Federal Fuel Excise : ~$0.38

Industry local component : ~$0.11

GST : ~$0.13

Petrol Stations : ~$0.05

Total : $1.40

So what does that all mean? Lets go through them one by one:

Singapore International Price : This is the price that Fuel enters Australia. Although the majority of our fuel doesn’t actually come from the Middle East, since 1977 The Australian Government has decided to match the price of fuel in Australia with international markets. The Singapore international fuel market was picked due to its proximity to Australia and also because its the largest of its kind in the region. The reason the government has decided to match the fuel prices with International Markets is to stop oil companies in Australia finding better deals overseas and leaving us without fuel.

Federal Excise : Peter Costello, thats all I am going to say!

Industry Local Component : This seems to be where the wholesaling and handling costs are factored in.

GST : as if the 38 cents of Fuel Excise a liter that the government is taking from us wasn’t enough, there is another 10% tax on top! How completely ridiculous as the government is taxing a tax!

Petrol Stations : You can now officially feel sorry for the petrol stations. As the first point of contact for motorists, these guys seem to get all the blame and not much of the money.

The Australian government receives around 14 billion dollars a year from Fuel Excise. Thats $14,000,000,000 extra that we pay, each year to fund John Howard’s over seas trips and Peter Costello’s ego. Admittedly it is much lower than the average 84 cents a litre of Fuel Excise that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (30 of them) pay, nonetheless it makes you think! Of course the other things that affect the Fuel prices in Australia include the Price of the Australian Dollar, as well as what the Fuel industry likes to call the Fuel Cycles.

Ever noticed how fuel is cheaper some days of the week and more expensive other days? Most people use to put this down to the fact that most Public workers get paid on Thursdays so it would make sense to have the fuel cheaper on thursday. Well, that might be a small factor here in Australia but given that Fuel is no longer cheap on Thursday’s it is obvious that other factors come into play. This patterned hike in Fuel prices is linked to the Fuel Cycle of the Singapore International Fuel Market and it seems to change bi-annually or so. Prices can differ as much as 20 cents from the low end of the cycle to the high end.

Well there you have it! Next time you are filling up the tank, spare a thought for the petrol station getting that lousy $3 out of your $60 fuel bill. No wonder they are stacked with snacks and magazines! And make sure you curse John Howard and Peter Costello for stealing your money.

A pretty good explanation CLC50. Unfortunately as a worker of an oil company, if I start discussing pricing I can actually get into shed loads of trouble for breaching the Trades Practises Act. A remote chance I know but when you see the size of the fines and now even custodial sentences, not one I'm going to take.
What I recommend you do, is actually do a bit of homework on the price of petrol as CLC50 has done. If you get a better understanding of who gets what then you will also have a better understanding of where your money is actually going.

In the scheme of things, the amount of oil imported by Australia really is a drop in the ocean and a sensible person would be able to deduce that would have no affect on the supply / demand cycle.

I’ve enjoyed reading this post and particularly the reply’s to my original post it is good that we debate these sorts of issues and have a better understanding of issues that effect our everyday lives.

It is my belief that world oil prices are controlled by a political agenda by our politicians and for people to believe that this is not the case is ludicrous.

There are several significant events happening in the world today. We are at war with Iraq and we have two countries having elections within the next twelve months we have the US elections next month where half the congress will be re-elected and all the polling is showing that Bush with loose control of the congress. We also will have elections within twelve months here in Australia.

If you look at the three countries that are the major supports of the Iraq invasion and war it is US, Brittan and Australia. As we know Brittan and Australia will do whatever the US tell them to do, and that is how I draw the link to Howard.

Beazley may not be your first choice as a political leader however he is not a George Bush puppet nor do I believe he is an ideological evil liar, like John Howard. I will refer to my previous statement

“People Don’t Be Coned fuel prices are being used as a political tool just like:

Interest rates

Children Overboard

Weapons of mass destruction

War on terror

The wheat board

Attack on workers rights”

Lets look at these one by one,

Interest Rates, I was a person that had two mortgages when interest rates where 17% this was certainly hard at the time but I would be much better paying 17% on a mortgage of $50k then what the Howard government has created being a con that interest rates are low at 8% I would rather pay 17% on $50k then 8% on $300k this is what our kids will have to pay. So the interest rate debate that was run by Howard was a con and preyed on the venerable.

Children Overboard, this was one of the greatest cons and lies that this country has ever seen where a political party blatantly lied and used this issue to be re-elected as the investigation showed. Howard had been advised that there had been no such incident, but did not reveal this until after the election because it did not suit the political climate at the time.

Weapons of mass destruction, this is the reason we so called needed to invade Iraq to liberate them with our so called democracy despite all the hype and panic created around the world these weapons did not exist. We have since found out that our political leaders including John Howard where advised as this prior so the invasion this is once again a con, the war in Iraq has nothing to do with terror has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction, it is all about the US Oil supply of which John Howard has been a political puppet of George Bush.

War on Terror, although I do not support terrism or wars in any way shape or form when you have the US manipulating and supply weapons to middle eastern countries in the world is anyone surprised that some of these countries or organizations may want to fight back? What happened with 9/11 and was linked to Alkida has nothing to do with Iraq they are two separate identities but despite this John Howard has once again prostituted our countries values to satisfy George Bush’s agenda.

The wheat board, it is clear that this government was involved in the wheat board scandal and must take responsibility for this.

Attack on workers rights, the worst choices legislations are the most openly unbalanced legislation this country has ever seen and takes away from current workers and our kids the very foundations that we have built our wealth and lifestyle on in this country which has always been about a far go for all. This legislation gives the capital in our country all of the power.

So we can go back on history as much as we like and we can call politicians all the names under the sun but from my assessment Australia has changed dramatically and the person that is responsible for that is John Howard.

His government has been proven time and time again to be ruthless and will do whatever they have to do to stay in power including hipping up the terror argument, manipulate oil prices change media laws so he can control what is in the media, so I will repeat my initial advice,

Think About It People Don’t Be Coned Vote This Howard Government Out

Thanks

BBB

P/S Emo your responce is a cop-out.

Hi all

Emo touched on a very important issue when it comes to the fuel debate, lots of myth and hearsay, not enough facts and research.

The day to day price fluctuations have more to do with marketing discounts being applied and taken off and less to do with the actual price of oil. Trend price changes have more to do with what the underlying price of oil is doing.

Fuel is one of the most scrutinised and regulated industries within Australia; if the fuel companies are doing the wrong thing there is little doubt they would feel the force of the law as it is available to the regulators already.

Something that is constantly overlooked is that fuel companies make their money out of refining oil into fuel, not from selling it. There is a critical shortage of refining capacity in the world and this has increased the margin that fuel companies can make from refining it, the old supply / demand equation.

A lot is made about being linked to the ‘Singapore price’. The reality is that fuel is such a global and commoditised product that you can’t have pricing disparity between one location and another, apart from the cost of transporting it, otherwise it would be directed to the place that achieves the highest price.

As for the government taxes on fuel; sure it seems excessive, but if they reduced the amount they obtained from fuel where and who else would they get this shortfall in revenue from. Or are we proposing a reduction in government spending and outlays?

Liberal, Labour, Democrats, or Greens, none of them will be able to influence the price of fuel at the pump unless they reduce the government excise….if you think they can do that without impact, please re-read my previous paragraph….