I suspect a large part of this is down to profiteering. If this is the case, what can the consumer do about it?The oil price is now almost half what it was. So why is petrol/gas still the same price?
Always find the cheapest gas station and buy from them. If you PAY the high prices then there is no incentive for them to DROP the price. Why should they?
You probably pay more money per gallon of bottled water than you do gasoline, but you never complain about that. The oil price is now almost half what it was. So why is petrol/gas still the same price?
An unbelievable set of answers above!!!
Yes, the price of crude oil is getting on for half of what it was back in ths summer ($80 per barrel now, dropped from $147 per barrel). This is the price of the raw stuff, not the refined petrol or diesel you put in your cars. But most importantly - the bulk of what consumers pay at the pumps is tax. The profit margins from the petrol stations is relatively small; and whilst the cost of the stuff may fluctuate wildly, the government's take remains constant (in the case of the UK, constantly high).
Aside from that, no one ever considers the huge expenses that oil and gas companies have to make to go out and explore for the stuff - an ever increasingly difficult task these days. To go out and explore, you need to plough back most of those profits, or raise money via loans from the city (can't see that happening right now). To put it into perspective - just a single exploratory well will cost millions of dollars, and will certainly not be guaranteed to find oil.
Reduced oil company profits will directly lead to reduced exploration budgets. This will feed back into the cycle with even higher oil prices a few years down the line.
There seems to be a perception out there that (like the recently maligned ';fat-cat'; city bankers), oil company workers are all on mega million $$$ bonuses, driving porsches, etc, etc. and leeching off the rest of the economy.
As one who works in the sector - I can say... ';if only!!!';
Because the oil companies are ripping everybody off.
They will claim that it takes time for the new price to reach the petrol pumps but notice that this does not apply when the price is going up, when they seem to be able to react on an hourly basis.
The government must react to this by slapping a windfall tax on the oil companies this year to help pay for all the money that has gone to rescuing the banks from their own greed and stupidity
good question and i wonder the same, and why are food prices not reflecting the same, they are not, and i can see that even with lower oil prices the customer is going to be the loser, i only have seen temporary lowering of prices, in some supermarkets, but that's not going to stay like that for long. we get rubbished whichever way you look at it.
ed
the consumer can't stop driving, how do you get to work, for many car is the only option, with little or no public transport
I personally don't worry about gas prices after finding info on how to pay much less for gas and groceries - ALL I DID was do a Yahoo search for ';1940 gas prices impossible no'; a few sites came up and some videos - I watched them - followed thier guides and am now paying unbelievable prices
I no longer spend time doing searching the net for the lowest prices for gasoline in my area, city, town, neighborhood or looking on the internet for gas stations with the cheapest price.
AND THATS THE TRUTH
I agree its disgusting but many of the petrol company buy their petrol in advance not on a daily basis so we have to wait till they can buy the cheaper fuel. OF course the thing that would help more was if the goverment would cut the tax but there is no chance of that
It is profiteering. And it isn't halved. I agree though. The oil price rises, they pass the cost to us instantly. The price drops, it takes forever to pass on the saving.
wankers
The consumer can stop driving.
The money helps pay for the new TV Ads where the oil companies try to convince you that they're the good guys, while they rob you blind at the pump. Remember when they used to advertise their gasoline?
Oil needs to stay at this price for about 2-3 weeks to see the big drops, because that is about how long it takes to refine the oil.
I share your disgust over these high prices.
In England some places have cut the cost of petrol.The others say it as not reached the forecourts.I reckon there lining there pockets.The
only thing a consumer can do is catch the bus or walk.
How can you complain about petrol prices? You drive a car which continually uses a non-renewable energy source. Millions of other people also do this.
How did you not see it coming?!
Because they find more places to drill oil that way there is more oil than petrol and gas
Petrol in my town has dropped to 拢1.06.
because ted dibiase says so!
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