Petrol Prices Protest July 14th

I'm always amazed when I see people getting petrol in garages charging what are obviously rip-off prices. Shop-around ! Take the AA's advice and buy in litres, not Euros.
Example;
Texaco garage beside Skylon, Drumcondra 114.9
Texaco garage Ballygall Rd, 102.9
 
May I also suggest that you should always fill your tank and check your mileage between fills. This will allow you to see if your fuel economy is staying at acceptable levels. 10 miles per litre is a good standard to aim for if you drive an average size car.
 
Does not really matter whether you buy in euro or litres provided you watch the price. average price around dundalk at moment is €104.9 but there is still one a cent cheaper and a few on the newry road side of town around €107.9. don't understand this overtaking business and then breaking hard to turn off a few hundred yards up the road and also racing between lights. course it would help if the lights were synchronised so that after you stopped at one and stayed within the speed limits you could progress without every light turning red as you approached, sometimes only a few hundred metres from the last light.
home heating oil will be the next big cry,and we are going to get skulled.
 
It always amazes me that there is such interest in a small price difference, ie 1 cent. I know of people who shop around to save 1 cent per litre of petrol, ie 40 cent on 40 litres, but would have no problem doing some of their grocery shopping in convenience stores and paying much more than the 40 cent they save on petrol.
 
People drive out of their way to save say 20-60 cent on a €35 fill of petrol and think nothing then of wasting the guts of €1 on a chocolate bar or up to €2 on a fizzy drink. The cheapest petrol pump is one without a shop attached, no matter how expensive the fuel.
 

Saw on sunday, the Statoil (I think) in Kilcullen Co. Kildare charging an eyewatering 116.9 and yes there were cars filling up!!!!

Funniest was in Newbridge two weeks ago where the Esso at the end of the town was (at that time) 100.9 while literally across the road the Statoil was 103.9 and yes yet again people using the Statoil.
 
Same in Mullingar, there's three stations within a few hundred meters of each other (two of which are easily visible from one another). Prices are: Statoil & Maxoil 104.9, and a second Statoil 102.9... yes there are two statoils beside one another charging different prices!
 
Hi Heinbloed,
I think you have missed the point Liverlips was trying to make is how come Tesco can charge 102.9 for petrol while other garages chareg up to 1.10.
we need more competition and the more tesco filling stations that open the better.
On the point you made about Ireland being one of the cheapest for petrol compared to Germany etc ,our VRT on cars is the highest in europe along with road tax.
Have you ever been to America Heinbold? I have been in America for three months so far this year and their petrol is a quarter the price it is here plus the have no road tax.
what do you mean by the deadly habit of the irish drivers if the public transport system in Ireland was not so inadequate we wouldnt all need cars
in the first place.
For now we sould all bouycot the dearer pertrol stations by going to tescos
of garages that are not overcharging for petrol by monitoring
www.irishfuelprices.com to get the lowest price
 
Yes "gas" is very cheap in the states - but is that a good thing? It encourages the development of inefficent cars such hummers and SUV's and discourages small cars which are far more practical for city areas and better for the enviroment. Oh and when I say small, I don't just mean Smart Cars, a regular Toyota Avensis is small compared to some of the supersized things on American roads!
 
CGorman said:
Yes "gas" is very cheap in the states - but is that a good thing? It encourages the development of inefficent cars such hummers and SUV's and discourages small cars which are far more practical for city areas and better for the enviroment.
In some states, you get great tax breaks for the really large engined vehicles (>5 litre) with the intention of supporting agriculture, which of course now benefits the Hummers & the big trucks etc etc.
 
I made the comment that soon we won't have the financial capacity to buy fuel anymore. I said that the oil price is increasing every week at about $ 0.50 .

CGorman told us that this is only during the last few weeks so . That was wrong.

Both of us - CGorman an me - were wrong.

The oil price for Brent and the OPEC basket have increased steadily by around $0.60 PER WEEK during this year so far .

Check the homepage of the IPE or CNBC or other traders papers. The German petrol association delivers it for free at http ://www.mwv.de/

The price for Brent in week 1 (2005) was $ 41.- . Now in week 29 it is around $57.- . A difference of $ 16.- divided by 29 weeks gives me a result of $0.55 . That is an increase from week to week of $ 0.55 .

Similar story for the OPEC basket .

Pity AAM does not allow to post tables/diagrams . I tried to paste it ,no success .

Finbar says-as far as I understood -that the prices are cheaper in the US . So what ?!

Has he tried to send a child to school there ? They have an adult illiteracy rate there of more than 25 % . And the Irish only 23 % as far as I remember . Nothing comes from nothing . We have here in Ireland some of the lowest petrol prices in western Europe and the highest illiteracy rate . Does the penny drop , Finbar ? The deadly habit of blasting carbon into the atmosphere kills. It kills Ireland .And it makes Irish people becoming dogs of war . Only last week one of those soldiers of fortune arrived back , shot to bits and pieces . The taxpayer foots the bill for this idiot via the health system . Every year the sea level rises by 3 mm. Please , Finbar , figure out for us how much we loose of our heritage every year , in square kilometers please . And let us know the results . We need facts here , not wish full thinking and ranting about being ripped off .To foot the bill of cheap petrol we have to pay with arms and legs. Facts will help us to counter fight our deadly -and ba(e)r of any reason - habits.
 
heinbloed said:
We have here in Ireland some of the lowest petrol prices in western Europe and the highest illiteracy rate .


Yes, yes. Cheap petrol makes for kids who can't read. Facts are great, reasonable and rational thoughts are nice too. The carbon emissions in this country of ours (that you are so worried about) are obviously affecting your ability to produce anything other than drivel like this.

Current petrol prices are still some ways off what they were in the 70s/80s, at the height of the OPEC crisis. Some economists even believe that prices may fall in 10 years time as new capacity from previously untapped resources comes on stream. Who knows?
 

Yes, the inflation adjusted prices for them periods were over $80 a barrel, thats a huge amount when you consider for most of the 90's we had it at $20 a barrel
 
heinbloed said:
I
CGorman told us that this is only during the last few weeks so . That was wrong.
Both of us - CGorman an me - were wrong.
The oil price for Brent and the OPEC basket have increased steadily by around $0.60 PER WEEK during this year so far .

You don't get my point. For example if Dell shares trade at $20 a share on 1st January but rise to $40 a share 40 weeks later, thats an average weekly gain of $0.50 per share. However would you then go and buy Dell shares on the 40th week expecting to gain $0.50 a week per share? Not likely! Obviously share prices are related to profits, dividends, revenues etc., but in the end of the day if something rises sharply in value - does that justify a continued rise in price? No! Remember the dot com boom - "Lastminute.com shares are up 200%, lets buy now!"
 
No, CGorman , I wouldn't buy Dell shares . But that is because I don’t need them . But I need energy , as any business as well . I can't wait 'till it is cheap again and roll down the shutters in the meantime . The world economy can't either . And that's the reason why the prices won't go down.

CCOVICH's " argument " about futuristic oil resources is useless concerning the current market prices . To much enterprise ? The world looks a bit square when you get reality from sky TV . Or when your look at it is limited by the width of the windscreen .

No one would invest money in new oil resources when not expecting higher profits .

That is market thinking . Shell just “ spend “ $ 20 billion in Sachalin and BP nearly lost the largest oil platform of the world in the Gulf of Mexico . That BP thing costs $300.000 - per day.

These projects need financing by the pump price at the garage . More projects like these means more price increases as well.
 
For CCOVICH the following explanation ; what has cheap energy to do with a rudiment state system : If Tesco buys petrol from the same refinery as the corner petrol station they both pay the same petrol tax. This tax is charged at the refinery by the exchequer . But when Tesco ads just one Cent per liter for he profit and the petrol station at the corner ads two Cents then the station at the corner delivers more VAT to the exchequer. Per liter sold . O.k.?

Compare the OECD statistics on illiteracy with the national energy prices . The lower the tax regime the less of a state there is. The more stupid Joe Average is the easier the same sows can feed on the same troughs . Ignorance keeps competition at bay and keeps the pigs getting fatter. That is my lesson in honour of George Orwell and his still interesting “ Animal Farm “ .
 
There is a Campus garage in Ballyragget, Co. KIlkenny charging 117.9 for unleaded He has some neck
 

This isn't my "argument", I was merely stating an alternative view put forward in an article I recently read. Oil prices may indeed continue to rise from now until eternity for all I know.

Profit=Selling price x volume - costs

There are three parts to the profit equation, not just 'price' as you seem to think.

Also, companies tend not to fund major capital projects from price increases (unless you are an Irish semi-state), but from bond or share issues. Of course, if oil companies are sitting on a mountain of cash, they could use that, but I haven't looked at their balance sheets lately.

I don't need a patronising lecture from you on how the tax system works. Why not say that we need higher income taxes, higher capital taxes, higher VAT on all goods to improve the literacy rate in this country (P.S. for somone so concerned with illiteracy, you're spelling and grammer are awful-OK?), not just on petrol. Why not compare the OECD statistics on illeteracy with the price of bananas? The price of a pint? The price of a pack of fags?


P.P.S. I don't have Sky, I don't watch any reality TV (other than sports or the 'news') and you are not teaching any 'lessons' on this board professor-OK?
 
As someone who worked in a reasonably senior position with a 'large player' in the market ... some facts.


At retail level, there is no money, I repeat no money to be made on fuel sales.
In many instances, in the larger sites, it is a loss leader to attract customers to their stores.

The oil companies make their huge profits upstream ... i.e Selling the Oil on the open market. Retail is about customer facing brands.

Within 5 years or so, there will only be about approximately 50% of the amount of petrol outlets open in Ireland. The 'Tesco' effect will have kicked in nationwide then, making the small independent fuel retailer obsolete.
This will be seen once the national infrastructure plan has been completed. You will see fuelling 'hubs' at strategic points around the country, accompanied by a Tesco type operation.

Someone mentioned that Shell wouldn't close their operations overnight .... Shell has sold it's retail businesses, and had been for sale for approx 2 years.
They also abandoned their 'Select' store offer, the same way as Texaco abandoned their Superquinn alliance. Esso sold/for sale all their company owned sites outside the Dublin area. They also scrapped their Tiger Miles scheme.

So you see, the industry is being dramitically rationalised.

The USA oil reserves are non-existant within a very short time, hence their 'interest' in Iraq. This combined with China and India's emergence in the global economy is what is driving oil prices up on the open market (supply and demand), not your independent retailer, who you plan to boycott.
The strengthening of the dollar is increasing the hit in the euro zone.
 

You just don't get my point do you! All i'm saying is that just because prices have risen by an average of 60c a week for the past year does not mean it will rise by the same amount over the next 12 months! Im not questioning the effects on business. Of course expensive oil hurts business in the short and indeed medium term, I don't disagree with that at all.