Fuel Prices

[halomansion]

all i can say is i hope it is a spike like in the 1970's.

not the same conditions, but looks like global warming will open up some tapable oil resources in the northern pole area. maybe lowering the price of oil by like 1/3 of a cent lol.

THE WORLD ECONOMY LOOKS SOMEWHAT STUFFED .....WILL IT BE EVEN HIGHER FUEL PRICES,OR JUST A TINGLE TILL THINGS SETTLE AGAIN?.....EITHER WAY I AM GOING TO TAKE THE TREADLY TO WORK DURING THE WEEK,SPECIALLY AFTER READING ABOUT HOW EASY IT IS TO DO IMMOBILISERS/ALARMS...

[Ryan.R34]

Oil goes into everything, Rubber, Plastics you name it. So the more shit people buy that they don't need the demand is there. It will only get worse as the worlds population increases. I was working in Sydney in 06 and there was a Storm off the Coast of Mexico' the fuel prices went up 8c i thought wtf has that got to do with me filling my truck up at North Ryde ? Humans are the absolute scurge of the earth and we will suck this joint dry party on .

[Col-GTSX]

Have you not seen "Battlestar Galatcia"

It will only be a matter of time before we discover 'tiliam' and start mining that to fuel out ships engines...

Then all we need to worry about it Cylon attacks...

/end scarscasm (cant spell, shoot me)

Think about this tho;

If oil were still cheap enough and fuel only cost 50cents a litre would you have any reason to research alternative fuels?

I mean to say if we were not having the fuel price pressure we would not care about what alternatives are around. We need to spend money today right now in devolping new ways and new minerals to replace oil, or at least a way to produce it in a lab. We need higher oil prices as it encourages us to look at the problem and help devise a solution rather than just worrying about i all the time.

Higher oil prices = panic for us and profit for the oil producers

Think about this, lets say you own BP

Now your people come to you and say, hey 95% of our profits come from mining oil and turning it into fuel etc, and only 5% of the companys profits come from somewhere else. What is the most important part of the business to you today??? Remember CEO's are paid on results, so to ensure your big pay check you need to lift profits. Now to think out side the box for a second, this item (oil) in which you make the most of your money is running out.

What do you do to ensure that BP is rich enough to survive at the time that the oil runs dry?

You increase the wholesale cost of oil to bank the profits for a rainy day.

Higher fuel is a good thing for the enviroment tho and as I said a good reason to research alternatives, people think twice about going for a sunday drive, people buy more fuel efficient cars, people understand their is a problem now and are working towards a solution for a better life.

The only down side to higher fuel cost is we spend more of our own money to fill the car. In defence the average AUST pay median in 2002 was 24k per annum it is now over 34k per annum. Point being it cost $50 to fill the average family car in 2002, now it costs $75 an increase of around 50% but our average take home pay has increased a good 35% in the past 4 years also and with the tax cuts and higher tax brackets we have been able to increase our net wages by at least 5-7% per annum.

So really the fuel cost to us is still the same.

[r33cruiser]

i like a good debate.

If oil were still cheap enough and fuel only cost 50cents a litre would you have any reason to research alternative fuels?

simply YES, alternative fuels would be researched.

with the acknowledgement of global warming in the past 3ish years we have researched fuels with less emissions.

it is the global warming issue that is driving this revolution.

rare oil plays but a small part. continuing to use petrol would cause too much pollution, therefore other fuels would be researched.

however this remains a hypothesis....it hasn't happened has it.

Edited January 7, 2008 by r33cruiser

[Eug]

i partly agree to the fact that 'alternative fuels will continue to be researched regardless of current fuel costs'.

i agree that it will be studied, but only by those who understand peak oil and think long term.

everyone else won't have a bar of it - because it simply doesn't concern them within this lifetime.

however, with increasing petroleum prices - it hits everyone and affects their lifestyle. they'll be more accepting to alternative resources and the government will be more willing to implement the means to introduce them into society.

cost is an influential factor into education. to put it simply, if it's cheap no one cares because it doesn't affect them.

[Keegs]

The research of alternative fuel comes down to what is most important for Directors, Executive and Non Executive of companies. Their primary duty at law, and the ones generally acknowledged, is to return profits to the company and shareholders. They cannot simply go on a tangent and research alternative fuels for no reason, there must at the end of the day be a profit motive to any expense to the detriment of profit. This is seen as a problem somewhat yet to be addressed. The area known as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is developing slowly in other countries but not in Australia and therefore means that a company, say for e.g. BP MUST use as it's excuse that researching alternative fuel is:

a. Good publicity - and therefore increases profits

b. Will be good for the long term - and therefore will increase profits

So it is both the fact that people are becoming more environmentally responsible AND the diminishing oil supply that is driving alternative research. But people are kidding themselves if they think any huge amount of effort is being put in. If we NEEDED a solution to it NOW, we'd have it. Some larger multinational corporations are more powerful than countries and they have the ability to do it. It's not profitable enough yet, but when it is, we will see it. Whether that coincides with the environment is another issue, however.

[r33cruiser]

But people are kidding themselves if they think any huge amount of effort is being put in. If we NEEDED a solution to it NOW, we'd have it. Some larger multinational corporations are more powerful than countries and they have the ability to do it

yea.

any of u guys remember when chrystler or GM crushed about 100,000 of its production electric cars.

sorry this is the only link i could find, its not very academic, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489037/taglines, couldnt find it on GM or crystler (bad publicity).

aparently they were all set to go but they were destroyed from "lack of consumer demand"

Edited January 8, 2008 by r33cruiser

[hal32]

if any of you guys are readers - read "gridlock" by ben elton.

he was talking about this stuff in 1991. it is fiction but some of his ideas are so good you wonder if there is something more behind them...

[ToMMaH]

Got some voucher from a friend who works at liqourland. Looks like if you spend $30 or more ended up getting 20cents/L off on petrol. I saved $10 on a full tank of Vpower racing today at $1.35. Just FYI anyone who goes to liqourland. You probably still save more money by going to a Dan Murphys for alcohol.

[1C3B3RG]

This is opec the little yellow ball is us. Bring on the Tilium i say George dubya will take care of the Cylons, even if Hillary gets in, won't be long before a dubya grandson or clone is leader of the free world again. Lol :laughing-smiley-014: