The price of a barrel of oil is now $50.40

Release the paper tiger !!!!!!!!!!!

thats not very nice.

I emailed Caltex on Monday- for a casual inquiry as to why diesel was more expensive at the pump than petrol.
Guess what- I've had no response!!!

That weather in FNQ must be affecting you, or are employed by the oil companies and get a staff discount? :)))

With that gooey statement you could be Prime Minister like little Johnny:))) LOL

Hi Gone Troppo, One pig, two pigs geez there's a lot of pigs flying around here.

Na.. gone troppo must be the new MUFTI to make such inflamatory remarks...

I resent that, and where is your proof.
I don't even have a scruffy beard that looks like it has a variety of BOTH flying AND crawling insects living in it.

Well for one Australians public transport system is Chit

And the way the cities and suburbs are built they aren’t rely public transport friendly.

There is a young apprentice at my work; it takes him 2 hours to get home using public transport if he has a good run.

I can drop him home in my car in 35-40 minutes.

Fining them?????

I heard Samuel say he would "Shame Them"????

As they are not breaking any laws.

Hi John,

Yeah, your probably correct... That wasn't the point though, it was about getting them to do something about diesel prices.

I stand corrected :))

Haven't got the price of a barrel of oil for these dates but for 12/1/05 (Brisbane) cost was 94.7 c/l and 13/1/06 was 118.9 c/l. Seeing as how this is the lowest price for nearly 2 years you would have to wonder why diesel is still retailing at 115.9 c/l
Hope the ACCC doesn't scare too many oil companies by naming them. In the meantime they continue to rake in millions of extra dollars every day
Peter

Hi Peter,

Just come back from doing some shopping and where I live, Central Coast Nth of Sydney diesel is 129.9 c/l

When I came back from 3 months travelling in September diesel ws cheaper in the middle of the Nullabor than my local stations.

So Mr robak do you have a Superannuation fund by any chance?????

I'm pretty sure you do if you hold a job in this country!!!, so you should also include yourself and every other working Australian in the list of greedy oil company shareholders. (I guess that just about covers everyone on this site)

I'm also sure your not complaining to loudly about how well your super fund is performing these days are you???

Ahhh now it all makes sense.
Turns out I'm actually ripping myself off. LOL

It's called socially responsible investing (SRI), and now, unlike the old days, you have choice of where your money is invested.

The core problem is that your financial returns may be lower, and the increased social/environemtal benefits are shared amongst everyone. Including those that do not participate.

It's a personal decision.

Some bed time reading:
(will need to cut and paste)
www.eia.org.au/files/MNJLXB5Z5K/2004%20SRI%20benchmarking.pdf
Site Link
Site Link

R.

Hi John
Many investors don't have a clue what they've invested in if they have managed funds. The mix and match will vary over time anyway.
Like life, most of us have very little control.
Try telling your super fund where you want your money invested...you know what they'll say.
Of course if you have an awful lot of money invested with them it could be a different response.

Where one does have some degree of control, it takes time and knowledge to pick good returns consistent with ethics. I haven't seen many prospectus's which trumpet their ethical investment successes. They may be out there but I haven't seen them.

But the fact that ethics and investment can be put in the same sentence indicates to me that things could be changing. Some companies appear to have become more responsive to public opinion.

At a slight tangent, my son once asked me why we didn't live in a mansion that we were passing in the car. The owner was well known to the police etc......, he was rumoured to have all sorts of shady things happening, people in his pocket etc...

I told my son that it was because I liked to be able to sleep at night.

What I didn't say, of course, is that if you're a smart, legal thief, you probably sleep a lot more comfortably :))))))

true Fooloose, but if everybody stopped buying from 1 particular company their profits would drop, dividends not be as good for investors and a sell off might occur. Perhaps then they might like to do something about getting customers to use their company again ie drop prices. Competitiion does not have to be a one sided street.

I'm very well aware of SRI and its implications, but as Footy points out most people would not have a clue as to where their money is invested when handled by a fund manager.

Unless you have a self managed fund which is not the case for most "workers" then your super will be invested by the fund managers as they see fit and SRI type investing / managed funds are not high on the list of most.

Just for interest have you ever had a real good look at the spread of companies that "Your" super is invested in by "Your" super fund managers???
Bet ya that there are a few oil companies and well as as few miners who god forbid may actually extract stuff like uranium amonst other minerals.

I laugh when people say "Profit" like its a dirty word and point the finger at the loggers, oil companies, banks and miners etc when almost every adult Australian gains personally from that dirty profit.

Oh yeah also forgot to add, those same dirty rotten companies also happen to employ a $hit load of Australians who also contribute to the economy in their own right.

Yes, it would be true to say that the vast majority of funds invest in oil and the majority of the people whinging about oil prices are actually benefiting from it.

Frankly, I don't have a problem with the oil companies, afterall they're just a bussiness like any other, making money for it's owners, but there is a fine line that as a civilised society we must observe. (Lord of the flies anyone?)

Simply because a company employs a lot of people doesn't nessarily mean it's ethical. The question is how much would the profits deminish by staying within the ethical boundaries.

Recently the AWB CEO's got a huge golden handshake while the shareholders lost a lot of money. This company has a history of putting profits before ethics so why are we surprised. I blame the parents. (Just kiddin') :)

R.

NEW YORK: If crude oil prices extend their sharp slide below the $US50 a barrel mark it could trigger an even deeper wave of investor selling, energy analysts said on Wednesday.

Oil prices have slumped about 16 per cent since the start of the year to below $US51 a barrel before picking up to around $US52.50 in after-hours trading and the market has a concentration of "put", or sell, options around the $US50 and $US45 a barrel level, making them key pivot points.

The spot price in Dubai sank to $US49.39 on Wednesday but in early trading last night was back over $US50 - by just one cent.

"If the speculative funds were able to push crude below $US50 a barrel it could trigger a further wave of put short hedging which would give additional negative momentum," said Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix.

The drop in oil prices has been caused in part by an abnormally warm winter that has cut into demand for heating fuels and has rung alarm bells for OPEC members struggling to buoy prices with production cuts.

But analysts have also been pointing to hedging by oil producers who wish to lock in revenue because they think oil's five-year rally may have run out of steam.

"A $US50 WTI [West Texas Intermediate] price represents a level that could concern higher-cost producers and at that level we would expect to see further producer hedging that may not be easily absorbed by the hedge fund community," JP Morgan said in a research note.

"Banks that have sold puts to producers at key levels, like $US55 and $US50, will have to manage that exposure as prices move lower," JP Morgan said.

As of Tuesday, open interest for put options at $US50 a barrel for NYMEX near-month crude oil was 17,877, compared with 6384 at $51 a barrel.

On Wednesday, US oil futures were down US56c to $US50.65 a barrel, down from $US61.05 at the end of 2006 and down from last July's peak of $US78.40 a barrel.

London Brent crude oil was down US43c to $US51.19.

Tapis, the Kuala Lumpur benchmark used to price Australian oil, was down $US2.46 to $US55.02.

Technical analysts said that oil prices risked a steep slide if they break below $US50 a barrel.

"Brent is poised on the edge of a cliff here and the next step down will not be a small move," Walter Zimmermann at United Energy said.

Mr Zimmermann said the market should peg $US50.65-$US49.30 a barrel as the cliff edge for US crude, with any further steps to the downside likely to target the $US47.55 and $US44.40 levels.

"In the bigger picture, any further downside from here will greatly buttress the case for an eventual longer-term decline to the $US36.35 area for the next major time-cycle low," he added.

¡ Explorers drilled more holes in the US last year - 932 - than in any other year since 1985. A record 29,356 natural gas wells were also sunk.

Reuters, Bloomberg

shhh, now youve gone and reminded the oil companies!!!

All future greivences, pointed directly at you LOL!!

Mike, the oil companies and I don't belong in the same sentence.
I've been crucified on here before, for mentioning them:)

I wont tell anyone ;)

They don't crack one barrel of oil to one particular product, the cracked yield varies pending on the quality of the crude used and the product required so other than the equation of barrel = litres then its not so easy to say each barrel produces 160 litres of diesel or unleaded etc.

Sorry for rambling I think its closer to 160 litres per barrel in answer to your question. :-)

G'day John,

When I was out at the Eromanga Refinery in '91, the Thargominda crude was distilling out at 70% diesel. Once the water was drained off it, the refinery ran their generators (110 volt) on the crude oil in summer with no adverse effects.

The work Landcruiser ute ran better on Eromanga diesel than on the stuff that was for sale in Bris. First cut diesel looks like slightly oily water. There were no additives of any kind added at the refinery.