Ken S replied:

What's in a barrel of oil? (Part 1)
OK, so... One barrel generally fills up to 42 US gallons. How many litres is that?
42 x 3.78541178 = 158.9873 = 159 litres

There is 159 litres of oil in a barrel. But not all of the oil are used in today's vehicles. What does a barrel of oil consists of? What are the elements?

1. Finished motor gasoline (51.4%)
2. Distillate fuel oil (15.3%)
3. Jet fuel (12.3%)
4. Still gas (5.4%)
5. Marketable coke (5.0%) [Ha??!! That's where Coke drink comes from?? I wonder...]
6. Residual fuel oil (3.3%)
7. Liquefied refinery gas (2.8%)
8. Asphalt and Road oil (1.7%)
9. Other refined products (1.5%)
10. Lubricants (0.9%)

Notso replied:

we are down to $171.9 per litre here in Forbes.

Makes you wonder about how they can charge $1.80 in Bathurst.

I was in Orange yesterday and it was $1.78 a litre there.

The Landy replied:

When oil was at its highs so was the Australian dollar (0.98 cents). Today the Australian dollar is trading at 0.8500 cents a fall of 15%, so in Australian dollar terms the price of a barrel of oil has decliuned but not to the same extent as it has in US dollar terms....

Member - Mfewster(SA) replied:

Over the same period the Oz $ has fallen heavily, so the actual price has risen accordingly. The high Oz $ over the last 12 months largely protected us from the worst of the fuel price rises in that time.

DIO replied:

Bathurst is on a main highway and passing traffic will pay the going price. The retailers are only pricing according to the willingness of motorists to pay. Boycott buying at Bathurst and watch how quickly the price drops. Many people in country areas expect to pay more for some commodities, fuel included. In many cases they shouldn't have to do so. Remember, the POWER of the consumer. p.s. at least the higher prices of diesel are contributing to lower prices for petrol throughout the country.

Louie the fly (SA) replied:

Dist has been $1.669 in Woodside SA for about the last week, & ULP is $1.469 at the mo. Will update the fuel prices tonight for that location. Two weeks ago dist. was $1.889.

Shaker replied:

If the Governmant can't tell you & the Petrol Commisioner can't tell you, what makes you think anyone here would be able to??

Member - Barnesy replied:

Ken, I thought it was common knowledge that the price of crude had no relation to the cost of fuel at the servo?

It's a simple supply and demand equation. The oil companies will charge the highest price that customers will still pay. It's all about making the largest profit. You can complain about the government, fuel taxes etc etc but the price won't come down.

The only thing that will bring the price down is if the majority of vehicles begin using renewable fuels thereby reducing demand. I'm waiting eagerly for the introduction of a diesel replacement fuel (or similar) that I can run my 4wd on.

Barnesy