Current Oil Price

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 02 Mar 2011, 18:35

RalphW wrote:
Expect diesel prices to rise faster than petrol for a while...

Why?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 02 Mar 2011, 18:45

Because petrol retailers are smart enough to realise they can put the price up on fuel that was refined a month ago knowing the public will accept there is a one to one connection between today's spot price and today's pump price. Nice work if you can get it.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 02 Mar 2011, 19:27

biffvernon wrote:Because petrol retailers are smart enough to realise they can put the price up on fuel that was refined a month ago knowing the public will accept there is a one to one connection between today's spot price and today's pump price. Nice work if you can get it.

Sadly there is a good reason why retailers must put up the price of the fuel they have in the their tanks as soon as the wholesale price rises. They have to assume that at some point the price will go back down and they will be stuck unable to sell the last tank of high priced fuel for the price they paid for it. By staying on top of things they can put aside the quick buck they are making today to cover this loss which although it may not happen this time has always happened before so every business man expects it to happen yet again. If it was your business what would you do?

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 02 Mar 2011, 20:06

Light Libyan crude is ideal for getting the maximum fraction of diesel oil and aviation fuel from a barrel of oil. It's all to do with the distribution of hydrocarbon chain lengths in the crude being refined.

European refineries which used the Libyan crude loved it because of the very high diesel demand in europe, and the relatively cheap refineries needed to process it.

The only practical spare oil on the market is Saudia Arabian heavy sour (high sulphur) crude, which needs more expensive refining, and produces more petrol and less diesel than the good stuff.

Hence the higher than usual premimium for the remaining light sweet grades.

And there I was, about to buy a diesel powered car...

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 02 Mar 2011, 20:13

vtsnowedin wrote:If it was your business what would you do?

Close it and get into bicycle repairs.

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 02 Mar 2011, 22:03

biffvernon wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote:If it was your business what would you do?
Close it and get into bicycle repairs.

The cast:
VOICE OVER
John Cleese (with American Accent)
BICYCLE REPAIR MAN
Michael Palin
SUPERMAN ONE
John Cleese
SUPERMAN TWO
Graham Chapman
SUPERMAN THREE
Terry Jones

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sketch:
Voiceover: This man is no ordinary man. This is Mr. H G Superman. To all appearances, he looks like any other law-abiding citizen. But Mr F G Superman has a secret identity. When trouble strikes at any time, at any place, he is ready to become... BICYCLE REPAIR MAN!
Superboy: Hey, there's a bicycle broken, up the road.

Superman One: If only Bicycle Repair Man were here!

Superboy: Yes, wait, I think I know where I can find him. Look over there!

Caption: FLASH!

All Supermen: Bicycle Repair Man, but how?

Superman One: Oh look... is it a stockbroker?

Superman Two: Is it a quantity Surveyor?

Superman Three: Is it a church warden?

All Supermen: NO! It's Bicycle Repair Man!

Superman: MY! Bicycle Repair Man! Thank goodness you've come! Look!

Caption: Clink! Screw! Bend! Inflate! Alter Saddle!

Superman Two: Why, he's mending it with his own hands!

Superman One: See how he uses a spanner to tighten that nut!

Superman: Oh, Oh Bicycle Repair Man, how can I ever repay you?

Bicycle Repair Man: Oh, you don't need to guv. It's all in a days work for... Bicycle Repair Man!

All Supermen: Our Hero!

Voiceover: Yes! whenever bicycles are broken, or menaced by international communism, Bicycle Repair Man is ready!

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 02 Mar 2011, 22:08

biffvernon wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote:If it was your business what would you do?
Close it and get into bicycle repairs.

Got to time that right. You wouldn't want to be totally committed to bicycle repairs while the majority of the people passing by are sitting in ICE driven cars. Retail operations here make more profit on the Beer bread and cigarettes then they do on the gas. Even the coffee island makes more profit then the gas pumps do. The gas and diesel are what makes them stop, the profits in what they pick up "while I'm right here".

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 02 Mar 2011, 22:12

It's the same in the UK. There's not much profit in petrol/diesel retailing so a lot of village garages have closed down, leaving the supermarkets to sell fuel at virtually no profit but as loss leaders to entice folk into their stores.

But the bicycle repair man sits on the moral high ground, even admired by Superman.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 02 Mar 2011, 22:32

Mean Mr Mustard wrote:[
Voiceover: Yes! whenever bicycles are broken, or menaced by international communism, Bicycle Repair Man is ready!

Very clever. Some of the recent shows the networks have put out have been based on less.
Back when one of my girls was going through the sarcastic stage (I don't know where she gits that from) she would hold up a fake microphone and start in with " And now our continuing adventures of Flannel man and his trusty sidekick Barn Boot boy" etc. etc.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 02 Mar 2011, 22:34

Mean Mr Mustard wrote:[
Voiceover: Yes! whenever bicycles are broken, or menaced by international communism, Bicycle Repair Man is ready!

It's better with the pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eCdIe0wdvU

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 04 Mar 2011, 18:29

The ticker is over $104 today for WTI, Brent over $115 and even The Torygraph is getting all doomerish on us saying "you ain't seen nothing yet":

Forget the present turbulence, which may or may not be temporary. You don’t have to look far into the future, perhaps as little as a year to 18 months, to see that a major demand challenge is looming which even assuming no further disruption to existing production, will challenge the present supply base to breaking point....
Do the math. Almost regardless of what happens to supply, demand will soon be outpacing the world’s capacity to meet it. The economic effect of such a mismatch is to drive up prices to a level where they eventually ration demand. Output will fall to a point which brings demand back into balance with supply. That’s called a recession....

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/je ... thing-yet/

Tawney · Post by **Tawney** » 04 Mar 2011, 20:55

$104.42

.

Buckle up, we’re in for a rough ride.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 04 Mar 2011, 21:05

Tawney wrote:$104.42 .

Buckle up, we’re in for a rough ride.

Bloomberg has an article on what this means for Western Europe and the U.S. - California faces $4 a gallon. Didums.

They have uncovered someone who is almost as delusional as Col Ghadaffi:

“If you go out into the country, people are down on their knees asking for lower prices,” said Luke Bosdet, a spokesman for the AA in the U.K. “The echoes of 2008 are very strong. The only thing we can hope for is an economic recovery strong enough to push up wages to absorb the costs. Until then, the lower- income driver has to leave their car in the garage.”
Full article here

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 04 Mar 2011, 22:33

raspberry-blower wrote: They have uncovered someone who is almost as delusional as Col Ghadaffi:

The Budget later this month will be "unashamedly pro-growth", Chancellor George Osborne will tell his party's spring conference on Saturday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12653686

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 05 Mar 2011, 02:24

The impact on consumer prices may push European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to raise interest rates as soon as next month to discourage higher wages and head off the threat of an inflationary spiral.

The bloke's an idiot. Putting interest rates up is more likely to increase demands for more money as mortgage and loans rates increase, further decreasing people's spending power. Interest rate increases may have a deflationary affect on wage demands and hence, reduce inflation, but they won't affect inflation driven by commodity price increases driven, in turn, by shortages.

It just goes to show how out of touch economists and *ankers are with the real world.