Fuel prices (petrol & diesel)

[ajm]

SuperU today:
Diesel €2.19
98 €2.16
E10 €2.06

[Hotrodder]

Loads of comment on all sorts of forums and news outlets about how cutting imports from Russia, etc. will cause the entire world to suffer huge increases in their fuel. I fully understand how this will affect supply. What bites me in the butt is why all the other non-Russian sources immediately put their prices up.

Greedy capitalist pigs! And the systems that allow it to happen have no doubt been designed by those who are so rich they will never have to worry about how much anything costs.

[exile]

I am afraid @Hotrodder that that simple idea misses the point that oil prices are driven by supply and demand. If supply is reduced and demand stays the same, the price will rise. Nothing necessarily to do with greedy producing nations putting up their prices. Oil and its bulk products are essentially auctioned. Highest bidder wins. I have known cases (and we have seen a few in the news recently as well) where a ship has sailed on its way to port A. Underway the cargo is sold (at a profit) and the ship changes to land at port B. It is sold again and the destination becomes port C - and in one case it ended up being discharged at port D after a further sale. In the meantime 3 owners of the cargo have made a nice profit.
The price is not therefore set by greedy producers but by desperate consumers.

[L Austin France]

I am afraid @Hotrodder that that simple idea misses the point that oil prices are driven by supply and demand. If supply is reduced and demand stays the same, the price will rise. Nothing necessarily to do with greedy producing nations putting up their prices. Oil and its bulk products are essentially auctioned. Highest bidder wins. I have known cases (and we have seen a few in the news recently as well) where a ship has sailed on its way to port A. Underway the cargo is sold (at a profit) and the ship changes to land at port B. It is sold again and the destination becomes port C - and in one case it ended up being discharged at port D after a further sale. In the meantime 3 owners of the cargo have made a nice profit.
The price is not therefore set by greedy producers but by desperate consumers.

Surely your example reinforces Hotrodder's argument that greed can be a reason.

[Hotrodder]

Capitalism at its glorious best.

[Veem]

I filled up with diesel at Roumazieres Intermarche at lunchtime and was charged 2.069 per litre. Prices do seem very variable.

[MAD87]

@ exile: Hear hear !

[Hotrodder]

I guess its the reason I was never any good at business. I would instinctively charge a fair price to cover my costs plus enough profit to pay my bills. When all the time I should have been squeezing every last penny the market would bear so I could attract investors money to gamble with.

Light bulb moment.

[Spardo]

I am afraid @Hotrodder that that simple idea misses the point that oil prices are driven by supply and demand. If supply is reduced and demand stays the same, the price will rise. Nothing necessarily to do with greedy producing nations putting up their prices. Oil and its bulk products are essentially auctioned. Highest bidder wins. I have known cases (and we have seen a few in the news recently as well) where a ship has sailed on its way to port A. Underway the cargo is sold (at a profit) and the ship changes to land at port B. It is sold again and the destination becomes port C - and in one case it ended up being discharged at port D after a further sale. In the meantime 3 owners of the cargo have made a nice profit.
The price is not therefore set by greedy producers but by desperate consumers.

Ah Andy, that rings true with me. In the early 60s when I was a deckhand in the MN my last ship was a Shell tanker. After joining in Germany we sailed empty, tank cleaning all the way (yes really, buckets of black sludge tipped over the side, eugh!!) to Greece for dry docking and change of name. Then through the Suez though no-one knew our destination, rumours abounded, the Gulf, Indonesia or wherever. Once through the Canal and the Red Sea we turned left, then left again, Kuwait. With a full load of naptha we idled down the Gulf and into the Indian Ocean, less than half speed all the way. We were wandering gently somewhere in the middle, hardly making any way at all when, suddenly, the captain put his foot on the gas and off we went. Flat out to Australia and eventually entered Sydney Harbour. Even then it was 10 days before we berthed, anchored in the middle with a little launch back and forth for shore leave. Finally, Darling Harbour and pumped out.

So yes, your scenario definitely holds water, even at the last minute we could have gone elsewhere to deliver, someone was plainly on the phone constantly.
Where did she go afterwards? I have no idea, totally pissed off with tanker life, I jumped ship.

[MAD87]

@Hotrodder If your commodity was selling without short-changing either yourself or your customers, what's the problem? That's business. If product X becomes too expensive some customers will stop buying it or try another supplier.
As far as fuel is concerned, OPEC is about to increase production to reduce prices gradually.
We've seen it all before!