Heating Oil In NI

motorguy · 6 July 2018 at 10:13PM

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Well in fairness in the oil bust a couple of years ago, prices went down a lot. Even petrol, the price of which is mostly tax, went down about 20 pence a litre. They're not operating a cartel.

Not talking about the oil producing nations i'm talking about the oil companies like BP UK, etc exploiting market conditions to their own ends.

Its only when they're under scrutiny - which they do get occasionally - or when theres a supermarket price war on fuel we suddenly find they can all tighten up their prices.

They're very quick to raise fuel prices when oil prices to go up, but incredibly slow to drop them when oil prices fall.

Have a look at BP UKs profits - up 71% in the first quarter of this year to £1.9bn.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/01/bp-profits-oil-price-rises-energy-production

"The company is the latest oil major to benefit from a bullish oil price, which has climbed from about $67 a barrel at the start of the year to nearly $75. Brent crude averaged $67 a barrel in the first quarter, compared with $61 in the final quarter of 2017."

qwert_yuiop · 6 July 2018 at 11:32PM

motorguy wrote: »

Not talking about the oil producing nations i'm talking about the oil companies like BP UK, etc exploiting market conditions to their own ends.

Its only when they're under scrutiny - which they do get occasionally - or when theres a supermarket price war on fuel we suddenly find they can all tighten up their prices.

They're very quick to raise fuel prices when oil prices to go up, but incredibly slow to drop them when oil prices fall.

Have a look at BP UKs profits - up 71% in the first quarter of this year to £1.9bn.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/01/bp-profits-oil-price-rises-energy-production

"The company is the latest oil major to benefit from a bullish oil price, which has climbed from about $67 a barrel at the start of the year to nearly $75. Brent crude averaged $67 a barrel in the first quarter, compared with $61 in the final quarter of 2017."

The problem is at low prices per barrel they don't even break even. The North Sea pretty much shut down back then, when costs of extraction were higher than returns. Whether the world economy can cope with oil prices back up again is the real question. One of the theories for the crisis of 2008 is the rise in oil to $140 that year.
Oil was no business to be in a few years ago, as evidenced by a quick google of their share prices then and now. You can't blame them for trying to make up for the bad times now things have improved a bit in the industry.
Anyone in business has to adjust for good times and bad. I certainly do since I'm not running a charity.

motorguy · 8 July 2018 at 1:54PM

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

The problem is at low prices per barrel they don't even break even. The North Sea pretty much shut down back then, when costs of extraction were higher than returns. Whether the world economy can cope with oil prices back up again is the real question. One of the theories for the crisis of 2008 is the rise in oil to $140 that year.
Oil was no business to be in a few years ago, as evidenced by a quick google of their share prices then and now. You can't blame them for trying to make up for the bad times now things have improved a bit in the industry.
Anyone in business has to adjust for good times and bad. I certainly do since I'm not running a charity.

Absolutely.

I dont begrudge them profit, however as i said they manipulate the retail prices of fuel to suit themselves, citing X, Y or Z as a reason on any given week, and being razor sharp on raising prices when crude goes up in price but incredibly slow at dropping it when the price softens.

x12yhp · 8 July 2018 at 10:49PM

I am sorry, but on a razor thin margin commodity, what you describe is just par for the course. It isn't that the consumer is being done, it is normal and you see it for the majority of commodities out there. What is different is that the general public doesn't tend to buy commodity materials directly. The general public is lucky to have a bunch of supply chain and formulation links before they actually get products and this means that the speed of rises is much slower.

The reality is that, on petroleum derivatives, the consumer is getting a good deal, as a rule. If the sellers had a bunch of profit built in, these variations would be much less visible. Of course, that would mean you would be paying more!

motorguy · 9 July 2018 at 12:53PM

x12yhp wrote: »

I am sorry, but on a razor thin margin commodity, what you describe is just par for the course. It isn't that the consumer is being done, it is normal and you see it for the majority of commodities out there. What is different is that the general public doesn't tend to buy commodity materials directly. The general public is lucky to have a bunch of supply chain and formulation links before they actually get products and this means that the speed of rises is much slower.

The reality is that, on petroleum derivatives, the consumer is getting a good deal, as a rule. If the sellers had a bunch of profit built in, these variations would be much less visible. Of course, that would mean you would be paying more!

Well, you can believe what you like but it wouldnt be the first time the OFT had investigated fuel prices and it wouldnt be the first time there was public outcry over fuel prices and all of a sudden they dropped.

I'm not hugely bothered either way - i dont rely on heating oil as a fuel source - just merely making a statement based on observations over the years and new articles.

Heating Oil In NI

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