Fuel Costs

[hi1]

Does anyone know the proportion of petrol, diesel etc that is extracted from each barrel of oil. I believe a barrel is 40 gallons.
The reason i ask is that diesel is currently 13p a litre more expensive than unleaded whereas it used to be cheaper and i would like to know if its because diesel is relatively rarer per barrel or are we just being ripped off again? It can't cost any more than petrol to drag it to the forecourt.


Another burning question that has puzzled me is that we pay for oil in US$.
The rate of dollars to the £ has gone up i.e it costs less to buy the dollars to buy the oil so proportionally it costs less £'s for the same amount of oil. We pay for our fuel at the forecourt in £'s so why aren't we getting that extra product or why hasn't the cost come down?

And finally oil prices at an all time high and yet the government is saying that the revenue from north sea oil has gone down as a result, how!


Mods feel free to move this if it should be elsewhere.

 

[xerxes]

Diesel is more expensive than petrol in this country for two reasons.

One is demand and supply. The demand for diesel is rising, but the supply (the proportion that can be extracted from a barrel) is fixed. Sorry, I don't know what that proportion is, but I understand it can't be varied.

Fuel duty on diesel is now charged at a higher rate than for petrol; this is because diesel vehicles are much more economical so the government doesn't want to lose out as diesel use increases. In 2007 the additional duty on diesel was 6.59p (plus VAT) per litre. In the past, duty on diesel was charged at a lower rate (and there were fewer diesel cars around).

So yes, we're being ripped off, by the Chancellor. The rest of the difference is because of market forces, which you can't do anything about (apart from introducing a subsidy).

The exchange rate hasn't helped much because although the dollar is weak, sterling is also weak and the huge price rise is only slightly cushioned.

I've not seen a government claim that their revenues from North Sea oil have gone down. Figures I've seen say that revenues from oil production and tax were 5.2 billion in 2004/5, rising to 10.4 billion in 2007. Though I suppose those revenues are being affected by the weakness of the dollar.

So: whenever you fill up at the pumps, the government is getting around 70% of what you pay the cashier. They're also taxing oil production in the North Sea. But it's all needed to foot the bill for government waste, diversity awareness officers and MP's expenses.

 

[davybull]

Millions were tempted into diesel cars with the promise of cheap diesel and better mpg.
Then hey presto it's suddenly more polluting than petrol and UP goes the duty.

Screwed again.......

Dave.

 

[nickso]

Millions were tempted into diesel cars with the promise of cheap diesel and better mpg.
Then hey presto it's suddenly more polluting than petrol and UP goes the duty.

Screwed again.......

Dave.

oh please, if you fell for that you deserve to be out of pocket.

diesel has always been a terrible fuel environmentally, it hasnt just happened. duty (fuel and road) has gone up because the government are skint and want our hard earned under the guise of being environmentally friendly. its another in a long line of motoring cons like way they convinced us that unleaded was better for the environment than leaded fuel.