Was the petrol price rigged too?

[AtW]

It gets better and better!

"Motorists may have been paying too much for their petrol because banks and other traders are likely to have tried to manipulate oil prices in the same way they rigged interest rates, an official report has warned.

Concerns are growing about the reliability of oil prices, after a report for the G20 found the market is wide open to “manipulation or distortion”.

Traders from banks, oil companies or hedge funds have an “incentive” to distort the market and are likely to try to report false prices, it said.

Politicians and fuel campaigners last night urged the Government to expand its inquiry into the Libor scandal to see whether oil prices have also been falsely pushed up.

They warned any efforts to rig the oil price would affect how much drivers pay at the pump, which soared to a record high of 137p per litre of unleaded earlier this year.

Robert Halfon, who led a group of 100 MPs calling for lower fuel prices, said the matter “needs to be looked at by the Bank of England urgently”

Was the petrol price rigged too? - Telegraph

[Sysman]

Alexei,

It has been rigged for years.

One of the first things I noticed when I got a car in the Land of Chocolate was that when world market oil prices came down, so did the price at the pump.

I never saw that happen in the UK.

For the older end amongst us who can remember UK 1970s inflation, who remembers Fred "There is no sugar shortage" Peart?

The so-called sugar shortage was driven entirely by panic buying and the price doubled within a few months. It never came back to previous levels.

Ditto with instant coffee prices doubling a little later. That one hit quite hard because I was a poor student at the time.

[AtW]

I never saw that happen in the UK.

That's partly because most of price of fuel in UK is tax which won't come down.

The issue isn't rigging of local petrol market but actual world prices - too much dirty spekulation is going on with people who actually have no money to pay for tulip they buy: all that leveraged derivatives market should have been stopped right after it was born.

Simple rule should be - if you buy commodity futures then be prepared to actually receive what you bought in physical form, only after you took delivery you can try selling it

[aussielong]

Simple rule should be - if you buy commodity futures then be prepared to actually receive what you bought in physical form, only after you took delivery you can try selling it

To hedge a commodity book you need commodity futures that are not going to have physical delivery. This is fundamental to the operation of the commodity markets.

[AtW]

To hedge a commodity book you need commodity futures that are not going to have physical delivery. This is fundamental to the operation of the commodity markets.

Business is a risk - if you want realiable deliveries sign long term supply contracts.

[The Spartan]

Till cars start using hydrogen cells and the country uses more renewable sources of energy etc this country will be at the mercy of OPEC

[BrilloPad]

Petrol is quite cheap at the moment. Which is good news. Until you realize it is the lack of economic activity which is causing it.

[The Spartan]

I was home this weekend and saw that it was 1.30 a litre, in all fairness even petrol in Switzerland is roughly the same price and generally everything here is very expensive to buy so it kind of shows how inflated UK petrol prices are. I read recently that Diesel fumes has been classed as a carcinogenic I wonder if that will make the government change it's stance on Diesel cars

[The Spartan]

I watched a rather tedious documentary last evening that was waffling on about hydrogen powered cars.

I think it was about that great futurist, Jules Verne.

Come on ZG you know you love the thought of driving around and saving the planet for future generations

[Sysman]

I was home this weekend and saw that it was 1.30 a litre, in all fairness even petrol in Switzerland is roughly the same price and generally everything here is very expensive to buy so it kind of shows how inflated UK petrol prices are. I read recently that Diesel fumes has been classed as a carcinogenic I wonder if that will make the government change it's stance on Diesel cars

Many years ago I was in the company of a diesel engineer when a large truck revved up and blew exhaust fumes all over us.

"Don't worry it's safe", he chirped, obviously referring to the lack of carbon monoxide in the stuff.

I wasn't worried about the CO, but the potentially nasty nitrocarbons.

Diesel can be filthy stuff. At one client many years ago I was in an office overlooking a road which was a semi-permanent traffic jam of taxis. A clean shirt first thing in the morning had a black collar by lunchtime.

Yes I know filters have got better but I still don't like the stuff.