Comments on: Petrol prices fair says ACCC

By: RoFlmaTiC

RoFlmaTiC — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:41:00 +0000

I have a feeling that those directing negative opinions towards the ACCC may not have a total understanding of competition law in Australia.

It is not illegal to charge high prices.

Repeat after me: It is not illegal to charge high prices.

What is illegal is when oil companies collude and all agree to set high prices (price fixing) and this has been proven time and time again not to occur. Instead (especially in the eastern states where there is no fuelwatch) it is a market dominated by a few price leaders (usually BP) who choose to increase their prices in a cycle with the price followers usually changing their prices in line with the price leader within a day or so.

One more time: It is not illegal to charge high prices.

Other big prohibited practices under the TPA include resale price maintenance, exclusive dealing, primary and secondary boycotts anti competitive agreements to name a few, however none of these would apply to the petrol giants either.

For the record, the ACCC does not back down against multinationals, it recently put both Rio Tinto and BHP in their place against Fortesque metals, and also won in demonstrating price fixing between major airlines, including Qantas, Singapore Airlines and British Airways.

www .accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/2332

The above is the website if you’re interested in all of the ACCC’s activities in the last 3 months.

By: Visitor

Visitor — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:19:58 +0000

We had a report in the news here in Perth only a month or so ago where the Fuel Giants (BP, Shell, Caltex) freely admitted that the price of Diesel is higher and their reasoning behind it was simply, there is no market competition for it. To put it into context, their largest market is industry (Trucking, mining, etc) who buy massive amounts of the product, in some cases at a discounted rate, and the lowly car driver makes up the last 5-10% of their sales. As such, they stated there are no competitive market forces (read as: Enough users) requiring them to heavily “Discount” the pump price that we pay, hence they dont, and we pay more.

Simply really. A Wholes. It kills me every time I fill up…

By: zero

zero — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:03:47 +0000

and about diesel,i just dont get why isit dearer than petrol
diesel shud be cheaper because they are not as “refined” as petrol and thus the shorter process of it,which also means less cost to produce.

By: zero

zero — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:00:49 +0000

pfft..”fair”?
useless POS
the crude oil prices has dropped from $45 per barrel to $35 per barrel just last week
and do we see any decrease?instead it went up by like 10-20cents this morning..
i’ve compared with countries like malaysia and the states..and we are way high
some1 has to do something,this is outta control

By: Krish

Krish — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:56:52 +0000

Fair???? I paid 96.9 Wednesday morning, and filled up my brothers car for 114.9 the same night!!!

By: dilligafman

dilligafman — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:51:36 +0000

Where ever tax is a issue the Govt can request reports from the ACCC and it means nothing.First and foremost the deal Howard signed with the china should at least be reviewed.I mean @ 2c/l unrefined is madness.Charge them the market rate our rate at the pump.No use the ACCC saying we are in the low end of petrol pricing.Mean diddle squat.We want cheap price simple as that.Nationalise the oil industry.

50cpl for life petrol
10cpl for life LPG
Good slogan for a political party.

Wake up before the world overtakes us AGAIN

By: ray

ray — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:45:41 +0000

Thank you for correcting me SamR, I had a feeling the barrels might have been cheaper back then but I wasn’t quite sure. But you get my point anyway I hope. They are still ripping us off, we still shouldn’t be paying 0ver 85c per litre let alone $1.00 per litre.

By: SamR

SamR — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:56:25 +0000

15 years ago oil was about $20 a barrel not the same as now.

The current price is still very high by historical standards.

By: ray

ray — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:04:13 +0000

For those people saying that the dollar also influences the fluctuation of the petrol, you are completely correct… BUT… why was it back around 15 years ago when the Aussie dollar was still hovering around the 60c mark and price of oil per barrel was the same as it is right now, we were only paying 69.9c per litre and that was for leaded not unleaded. I know times have changed a bit since then but it’s worth considering.

By: Name (required)

Name (required) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:25:40 +0000

reason the fuel in wa has rised is because its christmas
the cheapest i saw it yesterday was 98c got up into perth it was 105c fuel stations are ripping off the consumers

By: Frenchie

Frenchie — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:49:38 +0000

ACCC=Toothless tiger!

By: Bucket

Bucket — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:57:02 +0000

What I don’t understand is here in Perth we saw prices get as low as 95c/Litre….
the Following week, prices all of a sudden rise…not 1, 2 or even 3c/litre…from 95c…TO 108.9!??!?
Sure I understand its still low in comparison to past prices but with the dollar stable, oil prices still dropping, how on earth do Petrol companies justify such a dramatic leap in pricing?

By: Cupid Stunt

Cupid Stunt — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:26:56 +0000

Its pure econmoics as to why we have to pay more for diesel. There is not capacity in you market and others to refine enough diesel for demand. Bear in mind from a barrel of oil it produces about 19% Petroleum and only 9% diesel plus the balance of other products (heavy fuel oil, jet fuel, LPG and “other products”.
What I do not see is that diesel is only about 5% of the car market which would hardly dent the economics unlike the UK which is about 45% diesel orientated.

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:55:21 +0000

falcodore,
but only up to 12.5cpl as outlined, over a 5 year phase in period

By: BishBoshBash

BishBoshBash — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:47:40 +0000

Yep we’re getting ripped

By: Falcodore

Falcodore — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:37:23 +0000

Australian
Coverup for the
Corporations
Commission

Diesel is priced higher than petrol because of the rediculous taxes the fed gov put on it to rake in money from trucking companies.
LPG should be exploited more, but the n the gov will just tax the crap out of that too!

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:16:12 +0000

the real investigation should be on diesel and LPG prices.

for starters why should LPG prices follow unleaded price spikes???

and how come now that petrol has dropped considerably, LPG either hasnt, or only barely.

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:04:21 +0000

this report was appears to have been conducted and presented in a different economy.
the obviously did their study before the prices fell, so the newly released findings are irrelevant.

Tuff Guy,
another reason is that the oil doesnt turn itself into petrol.
There are also fixed costs associated with making petrol, such as wages, plant operating costs and profits.
Sure oil might go down by 2/3rds, but the cost of wages etc remains constant

i dont know exact figures, but im going to blow it up a bit…
say 1 litre of fuel @ 1.30L has 60c of wages and other costs in it, and 70c worth of oil.
if the oil cost halves, its still 60c for wages and other fixed costs, plus only 35c for the oil content = 95c.

By: JEYKL & HYDE

JEYKL & HYDE — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:55:39 +0000

yianni,

diesel is cheaper to produce than petrol.it’s got bugger all to do with demand(and a few trucking companies might disagree).explain why it was cheaper(forever)up till 2 years ago.one “expert”i talked to tried to tell me it’s because of the lower sulphur content now.i don’t buy that either.diesel is still cheaper to refine than petrol,its just that not as many people winge about it.look at todays decision to drop the bus tax(voters power).

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:46:40 +0000

Yianni,
If diesel becomes more popular the price would go up.