Surprise surprise, fuel prices could have been fixed in Europe!

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   Silverspeederposted 10 years ago

   I'm not surprised in the slightest are you?
   
   A report by the BBC about an investigation into large companies fixing the price of fuels comes as no surprise to most people.
   But if the investigation concludes that indeed the companies have been fixing prices what do you think should happen?
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22533993
   
   On a person point i have 5 suppliers of petrol within 2 miles of my home, the major companies (ESSO, BP and TEXACO) offer petrol at £1.32.7 per litre (£5.97.15 UK gallon $7.78.51 US gallon) and the independents (ASDA and GREEN LEAF) offer the same product at £1.29.6.

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   Zelkiiroposted 10 years ago

   Oil tycoons need all that money to line their pockets with baby seal fur and to convince the general populace that their energy source is the only one that's viable!

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      Silverspeederposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I find it funny that the oil companies are telling us the oil is running out yet they have no major plans to replace their golden egg with anything else.
      A geologist told me he believes we have used 1/8 of the earths reserves of oil and the only problem the oil companies have is how to extract the other 7/8.

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         Zelkiiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It's true that there exists a massive buttload of oil shale that could technically keep us running for several centuries, but the cost of extracting the oil from said shale is astronomical and, more importantly, impractical.

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            JaxsonRaineposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Not anymore... we're getting oil out of shale right now. We have enough in the US alone to keep the US going for 50-100 years, without any new advances in extraction technology.

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               Zelkiiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Well yeah, we're getting oil from the shale. The problem is just that it costs a lot of money to do so, and once it becomes the sole source, the price of oil will truly become silly.

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   JaxsonRaineposted 10 years ago

   Would it surprise you if you learned the countries that own the oil have been fixing prices?

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      Silverspeederposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No
      In the UK it's advantageous for the government to have high fuel prices as they collect more revenues.
      It doesn't supprise me that the US is also fixing the price of crude as its sitting on some of the largest reserves.
      And of course OPEC have always fixed the price.

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      Josakposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Do you count restricting supply as fixing the price? Because it does affect the price but it is not really the same deal.

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         Silverspeederposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I believe restricting the supply increases the price but doesn't increase the costs so someone is making loads of money, maybe its all the nasty commodity dealers.

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         JaxsonRaineposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Actually, it is the same deal. You reach a balance of price/demand either way, restricting supply is a well-known method of price fixing.

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