The Irish are ripped off at the Petrol Pumps

A new day, and another new Irish scandal - as I have predicted it last week.

According to Ireland's largest opposition party Fine Gael (FG), Irish people are paying significantly more for petrol and diesel than anyone else in the rest of the EU.

The party says that Irish motorists have to spend every month on average € 30 million more that they should, and it is not because of higher taxes.

In recent weeks the costs of petrol and diesel have dropped significantly, due to a drastic fall of the price for crude oil. But Fine Gael says that the prices Irish drivers have to pay at the petrol stations are not going down enough, as oil companies and petrol stations decide not to pass on the full benefit of price reductions and pocket the money themselves instead.

The party has been comparing the prices people in Ireland are paying to everyone else in the EU.

Fine Gael's deputy leader and Finance spokesman Richard Bruton (photo) explains that petrol is 24% more expensive in Ireland, while diesel costs 18% more than in the other 26 EU countries.

Once again we are ripped off in a shameless and criminal way by big businesses - in this case the oil and petrol companies - and no-one seems to be able to do anything about it.

The government does not care, as its members are driven around in their luxurious ministerial cars by Gardai and have not even a clue what Irish people pay on the petrol pumps.
And the National Consumer Agency - a toothless paper tiger established by Bertie Ahern to give his ex-girlfriend Celia Larkin a cosy little job - shows no interest in the matter either.

What - I wonder - will Irish people have to do before the complacent and lazy louts in government begin to take any notice of us, our needs and our misery?

Might some demonstrations do the job? Or will it have to be a revolution after all...?

The Emerald Islander

Oil Price rises to another Record High

The steadily rising price of oil has reached a new all-time record, with London Brent crude rising above $ 146 per barrel for the first time.

Brent rose by $ 2.43 to a top mark of $ 146.69, before falling back later in the day to $ 144.48. A barrel of Brent crude has thus risen by almost $ 4 since the beginning of the week.

US light sweet crude rose by 80 cents to $ 144.37, having reached already $145.85 earlier this week.

Oil prices, on the rise ever since the USA began their illegal war against Iraq in 2003, have jumped significantly again after the US government announced yesterday that its crude oil stockpiles had fallen by more than expected.

The Automobile Association (AA) has called the rate of increases "eye watering".
"The market can absorb a little increase on the forecourts, but nothing like this," their spokesman Paul Watters said.

But we have not seen the end yet, and oil prices are expected to rise even further.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking ahead of next week's G 8 meeting of leading industrialised nations, predicted that prices would climb easily to $ 150 a barrel.
"Unfortunately, rising oil prices create problems for the world's economy," he said.

Many companies across the world are suffering under the strain.

Air New Zealand has become the latest airline to say it "cannot continue to absorb the rising cost of jet fuel", which is now more than $ 170 a barrel. So the prices for domestic flights in New Zealand will rise by 3%, and international fares by 5%.

The Hong-Kong based airline Cathay Pacific issued a profit warning yesterday.

Dr. Chakib Khelil, president of the Organisation of oil-producing Countries (OPEC) blames the weakening of the US Dollar, which makes oil a more attractive investment.

Overnight the US Dollar traded at its lowest level against the Euro for more than two months, falling to $ 1.5891 per Euro.

The Emerald Islander

Oil Price at record High while Dollar weakens

Today the price for crude oil has reached an all-time high for the fifth time in six trading sessions. In New York sweet crude added $ 1.85, to touch a record $ 107 per barrel, before falling back to trade at $ 106.6.

This artificially high oil price makes petrol and energy costs more expensive around the world and puts further financial pressure on businesses and household budgets.

Analysts believe that many traders are buying oil, priced in dollars, to protect the value of their money against the sliding currency.
The US Dollar has been ticking off new lows against the Euro and other key currencies since last summer, and was hit again last Friday by the US employment report showing the American labour market at its weakest in five years.

This has prompted traders to seek refuge in commodities, including oil and gold, which are more likely to sustain their value than the greenback. The oil price is also influenced by last week's decision by the producers' cartel OPEC not to raise supply, despite rising demand in China.

In Europe Brent crude gained 69 cents to trade at $ 103.07 a barrel, also a new record.

A barrel - the old-fashioned unit of measurement still used by the oil industry - is equal to 159 litres.