Thread: Petrol falling, but what about diesel?

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

So the claim is servos are overcharging for diesel by about 20 cents a litre. That's certainly the difference around here.

Why is diesel so expensive? Retailers are charging 20c per litre more than they should, fuel watchers say
Why is diesel so expensive? Retailers are charging 20c per litre more than they should, fuel watchers say - ABC News

Well thats a massive surprise, big business ripping off the consumer and manipulating the whole economy with a government and governing bodies being all talk and no action.
Would never have seen that coming

40 cents a litre difference at some servos up our way.

Blatant rip off

Diesel is cheaper to produce, store & distribute.

Originally Posted by chuck

............

Diesel is cheaper to produce, store & distribute.

That depends on the composition of the crude that it comes from and how tight the rules are, for example, on sulphur content. It also depends on the design of the refinery - any refinery design will have assumed a known crude composition and a desired distribution of product.

Increased demand for diesel relative to petrol, or a change in the feedstock beyond what was foreseen in the design, for example, cannot be met without modifying the refinery, something that is going to be expensive and time consuming for an operating refinery.

Ultimately though it will come down to the law of supply and demand.

(But this is no reason why the retail margin for the two fuels should differ. While in theory, the lower flammability means diesel is cheaper store and distribute, in practice I doubt there is a significant difference.)

Since the fuel price went stupid we have been consistently been paying our fuel distributor a much high price for diesel than ULP.
Before the huge price increases the difference in landed Diesel & ULP was normally under .10c per Lt, since the price stupidity the difference is regularly 3 or 4 (even more) times that amount.
Ergo, we have to sell Diesel at a much higher price & the problem is in the distribution, not the retailer.

Also, a few weeks ago to keep the price of all fuels remotely affordable we were selling fuel at a loss. We did this for about 8 weeks.
Sometime, somehow we have to try to recoup that loss. So, prices may not drop as much or as quickly as people assume.

I know fuel is an essential good but I suppose it's a bit like grog & smokes, if you want to indulge you pay the price.
Anyway, be HAPPY! Fuel on Palm Island is well over $3 at the moment.

Jonesfam

Have a look at International Market Watch | Australian Institute of Petroleum. Especially the $A chart. And note that diesel prices do not exactly follow the petrol curve, especially on 8/7/22. And diesel is consistently higher than petrol.

These prices are the refinery gate price, Singapore, which is where most of our products come from. Also note that the price of Tapis crude, which is the relevant one for this part of the world, is much higher than either WTI or Brent which are the ones most commonly quoted - we are effectively part of S.E. Asia, not Europe or West Texas! Tapis is higher, both because its composition is more useful, and because it is local, and does not need a lot of transport cost from the other side of the world.

Originally Posted by jonesfam

I know fuel is an essential good but I suppose it's a bit like grog & smokes, if you want to indulge you pay the price.
Anyway, be HAPPY! Fuel on Palm Island is well over $3 at the moment.

Having a friendly gripe across the bowser with another motorist when I was up North, she commented she'd just paid $4.40 at Dirk Hartog, at which point I decided griping about $2.80 probably sounded a bit whingy.

Originally Posted by BradC

Having a friendly gripe across the bowser with another motorist when I was up North, she commented she'd just paid $4.40 at Dirk Hartog, at which point I decided griping about $2.80 probably sounded a bit whingy.

Dirk Hartog is an Island and has no road access so all the fuel has to be supplied by barge so at least they have some sort of excuse.

For anyone interested about things over here in NZ. Importer fuel margins have been much bigger lately. Damn Gouging big.

From our Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment data pages... Weekly fuel price monitoring | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

Screenshot 2022-08-02 at 09-06-29 Weekly fuel price monitoring Ministry of Business Innovation &.jpg
Screenshot 2022-08-02 at 09-20-20 Weekly fuel price monitoring Ministry of Business Innovation &.png

Screenshot 2022-08-02 at 09-06-08 Weekly fuel price monitoring Ministry of Business Innovation &.jpg
Screenshot 2022-08-02 at 09-20-38 Weekly fuel price monitoring Ministry of Business Innovation &.png

You can see in these graphs where it was a couple of months after the Govt reduced the tax take that the fuel companies started increasing the margin made and this kept the fuel price increase narrative alive. "Fuel was increasing in price everywhere" they said....

The cheapest diesel I can find within a 30km radius of home is NZ$2.33. Most local service stations list NZD2.35. The most expensive is NZ$2.84. Diesel here is not taxed at the pump like petrol is. Instead diesel vehicles need to carry a ticket saying road user charges (RUC) have been paid for based on the GVM of the vehicle and in 1000km units. For my 110 HCPU I need to buy a 3T ticket and I buy 5000km at a time as this corresponds to my vehicle servicing interval. Last lot cost me NZD49 per 1000km, but this includes a govt cost of living tax reduction discount of 25% I think. See this website for axle types, weights and cost per 1000km for different vehicles - RUC rates and transaction fees | Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency You can see this discount implementation date in the petrol graph between Jan 2022 and the end of the graph. It is only in the petrol data as this is taxed at the pump and the cost of living discount was actioned by the litre at the pump. For diesel, a discounted price per 1000km of RUC was implemented. Normally 1000km costs NZD76.