Thread: Fuel prices, why do WE pay so much?

Whilst I agree that we are paying too much for fuel, particularly diesel, the above (rant?) is so full of inaccuracies and misinformation that you wouldn't know where to start to list them all.

Suffice to say that the fuel excise (what a charming word for a tax) is not a percentage but a flat 38c/ltr, made a flat rate by (you guessed it!) John Howard.

The GST is indeed a percentage and is indeed a "tax on a tax".

We only have to look at Europe to see that our government has a long way to go in collecting excise on fuel.

I am glad to say I don't pay excise when I fill up at the pump, only GST. My car runs on LPG for which I pay, at present, 63.9c/ltr, which gives me about 8.5km of driving.

So whilst I find the petrol/diesel debate very interesting on a personal level, and I do realise that ultimately I pay for higher diesel prices in the shops, I am not directly affected at the pump. When I fill my 75ltr tank it costs me $48 (less $3.00 for the fuel docket) and this gives me 635km of driving. When I do a highway trip, such as going to Melbourne or Adelaide, this goes up to 750km.

Considering that Howard brought in a subsidy for installing LPG, I find it amazing that there are so few (comparatively) cars on the road using LPG. After govt subsidy it cost about $300-$400 to have LPG fitted, yet people still give me all sorts of reasons why they wouldn't use LPG. Go figure.

So, in closing I didn't just knock off 50c a litre of fuel, I knocked a dollar a litre off.

1. We are using more fuel
2. We are producing less fuel
3. Prices will go up
4. Get used to it.

A very interesting rant, but alot of it is incorrect.

The short of it, is no matter how we look at it the oil companies and those who own them are the ones that artificially keep the cost up.

Point fingers where we want but we do have the ability to power vechiles with alternative means of power. It has not caught on because it is not in the best interest of the oil companies and goverments.

Europe is the most advanced in renewable alternative forms of energy. My hat goes off to them.

An interesting thought he who controls the oil, controls the world, as it stands. We have been made dependant on it and now, it holds us ransom.

Blame ourselves for being led down the garden path, by oil companies, goverments, car manufactures, name it, "it owns us".

Just my 2 cents!

John

I was more interested in how much we produce in Australia and why we should be paying the international ransom price. I use unleaded ethanol fuel which we should also be able to produce cheaply having both our own oil and own ethanol.
It doesn't worry me a whole lot one way or the other because working for myself in a top end market I just put my prices up a little more. Someone paying 2 or more million for a house don't get upset at paying a few more dollars on there custom timber items.

Originally Posted by Claw Hama

I was more interested in how much we produce in Australia and why we should be paying the international ransom price. I use unleaded ethanol fuel which we should also be able to produce cheaply having both our own oil and own ethanol.
It doesn't worry me a whole lot one way or the other because working for myself in a top end market I just put my prices up a little more. Someone paying 2 or more million for a house don't get upset at paying a few more dollars on there custom timber items.

Sorry to burst your bubble, we are actually nett importers of oil and this is getting worse year by year, a large factor in our balance of trade problems.

As for paying international prices for oil (we are actually linked to to the Singapore exchange price (TAPIS), if we didn't all our oil would be exported as the oil companies could get better prices overseas.

Take wheat as an example, we are nett exporters of wheat, yet we as local consumers pay the international wheat price. If we didn't, the farmers would export all our wheat as they can get a better price overseas.

Gentlemen. A few oil facts.

80% of the worlds oil production is owned by State owned oil companies, not the publicly owned companies, so vilified in the media.

Saudi Arabia exports 60% of the worlds crude oil supply. 60% of this comes from one oil field, the Al Ghawar field. This field was discovered in 1948 and has been the largest producing field ever since. 8 million barrels of sea water are pumped into the Al Ghawar every day to flood the oil upwards to the extraction wells. When this field begins to turn off it will do so quickly. It may be happening already.
5 years ago there were 4 major oil fields producing at greater than 1 million barrels a day. Today there is one

There is a shortage of major oil fields, within easy reach of the surface being found and everybody is looking.There are no new major fields being found.

What we should be worrying about is can Australia get hold of sufficient supply to satisfy its daily need for 880,000 barrels a day? Currently we import approximately 350,000 barrels a day, much of that refined product. Australialace sources the majority of its imported oil from ASEAN countries. As these countries domestic oil production diminishes, they will turn the oil export tap off and use the available supply for themselves. Indonesia has already done this and is exiting OPEC, as it becomes a net oil importer.

Where will Australia source its growing demand for imported oil when the ASEAN supply is no longer available? It is time to understand that with the new demand for oil from China and India is exposing a fundamental supply weakness, earlier than planned. The world’s oil producers cannot raise the daily production rate to meet new demand, due to the lack of new discoveries of major oil fields. Oil is being sold to the highest bidder.

With Bass Strait production declining at 12% per year, this country had better find some new supply soon, or, today's prices will be seen as the good old days.