Cost of fuel

[Thingamebobwotsit]

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but just had to pay £100 to fill up my very bog standard car. Everywhere cheaper had sold out.

We aren't exactly silly with our money, but can see us having to rein in spending even more.

Nothing really sensible to say, but it looks only set to get worse.

Really? I’ve not heard this nor seen anything about it?

I was already contemplating an EV as my car just inhales petrol. With petrol prices now I will definitely be going electric.

No we don’t!

There's not a lot of oil and gas readily available any more in the North Sea.

What there is, is drilled by private companies and sold on the open market and we are price-takers in that market.

Thatcher sold off the rights and used the money to smash the coal unions and for tax breaks to the rich, rather than for a sovereign wealth fund like Norway did.

@Springiscomingbutimisswinteryou do realise electricity payments will also rise as a result of this war don’t you?

Yup. But doing the maths it's still a huge saving.

Those private companies are heavily regulated and are not allowed to properly exploit the North Sea's oil.

The UK government could let them drill for more provided they sell it to the domestic market.

They would still make a profit and we wouldn't have one of the most expensive petrol prices in the world.

Everyone's a winner but it's not going to happen due to ...

Net Zero.

Norway has very expensive petrol also due to Net Zero but Norwegian companies have more freedom to drill in the North Sea, because when they sell the oil the Norwegian government makes a huge amount from tax receipts.

The money is then used to make things a little easier for the population due to...

The high petrol prices.

That's not quite right actually.

The oil and gas under the UK North Sea have always belonged to the Crown (i.e., the UK state). Private companies have never owned the resource itself -they only operate under temporary government-issued production licences.

It's true that Thatcher privatised BP - but the Labour government in the 1970s sold off the UK's majority stake in it, which was the crucial change.

It's a rip off. Friends in OZ are paying £1.10 a litre and moaning about that.

I feel like I'm having a moment here, but to me I have a 'bog standard' car: it has a 36 litre tank and last night it cost £32.86 to fill. £100 seems insane, and I'm bewildered people still have diesel vehicles.

@QwestSproutwe have a VW campervan that’s diesel. Saves us £££ as we don’t stay in rental cottages etc. 🤷‍♀️

I don’t want a bog standard car . I have an
nice diesel SUV , commenting on the cost of fuel is not the same as not being able to afford it .

The OP referred to their car being bog standard and spent £100, that's why I commented on that.

No incorrect.

Full privatisation happened under Thatcher and the Labour government
had retained a significant stake.

The first bit is what I said and what do you mean by "significant stake"?

Labour reduced the stake to below 50%. Once it dropped below that the government could no longer make decisions because..

It was now a minority stakeholder

36 litres would be closer to £55 from empty to full round here

No their stake was 51% and was a controlling stake.

“LONDON - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government unveiled plans for a $3.6 billion sale of state-owned oil and gas interests in the North Sea, confirming her determination to sell off industries nationalised by previous administrations.
The sale of a majority stake in the British National Oil Corporation's crude oil production operations was described Monday by Energy Secretary Nigel Lawson as the 'biggest program of privatization ever to come before Parliament.'
The government also plans to end the monopolyof the state-owned British Gas Corporation, despite stiff opposition by chairman Sir Denis Rooke. Lawson delayed a decision on a plan to sell 900 retail gas showrooms, which gas workers had threatened to strike over.
Opposition lawmakers and trade unionists denounced the sale of the highly profitably government enterprise as a 'scandalous waste of public assets.'
The government seeks greater competition but may also be after cash for its hard-pressed treasury. Efforts to sell the numerous money-losing state industries have failed.
'Oilfields that could have brought in public revenue for the next 20 years will now be sold off at a knockdown price,' said General Municipal Workers' Union chief John Edmonds. 'The government is selling our future for quick cash.
BNOC, which last year made a profit of $565 million from nine offshore fields, six of which are in production and contain an estimated 800 million barrels of oil, will be offered to the private sector under terms not yet announced.”

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/20/Thatcher-to-sell-North-Sea-assets/4467372398400/

^ This. Big regional differences at the moment and where the forecourts have sold out there can be a £20 differential in the fuel stations that still have fuel. A friend was queuing for an hour last night.

The job I do I have to drive long distances, so bog standard and boring still requires a decent engine. I take the train where I can. It's not optional for numerous other reasons to have a small car (although our other one is a small run around but even that is beginning to cost a lot).

Either way though it is not the choice of car that is the issue here, really. It is the fact that prices are rising exponentially.

£1.89 for diesel here. Used to be £1.39.

We need oil to heat our house and have hot water. It was 59p a litre. Now £1.25 a litre.

I don't disagree that petrol and diesel have gone up a lot. However, home heating oil has more than doubled. In December, I paid about 58p per litre. Now it's at £1.50. Minimum order is 500 litres so I have no choice but to spend £750 to keep the heating on.

143 for unleaded & 168 for diesel at the local Sainsburys.

In other news Indian Warships have escorted Indian Flag LPG tankers through the Straits of Hormuz and the Indian Railways have electrified 99.6% of their network compared with 38% in the UK.

|In the meanwhile the electricity price cap is set by the cost of gas fired power stations which are the most expensive and we have the worst insulated houses in Europe............

My in laws were saying the same this morning.

So totally different to your first post then.

“even though Norway are drilling relentlessly and their petrol is much cheaper“

You have no credibility.

I cycle everywhere and hope this leads to fewer cars on the road. The COVID lockdowns were bliss.

personally i prefer to swap to buses where possible for long journeys