Petrol price really starting to bite?

[Motu]

Dropping $200 a week in pay and giving up a 1,000km commute to ride my pushbike to work doesn't look such a drastic change now.I only use my car to take my books back to the library on saturday morning now.

[riffer]

Two weeks ago the bike set a new record requiring $30 to fill. Yesterday the bike took $34. That's a bit of a jump. I guess the tank has grown bigger? Which is great - I can travel further on a tank now .

Is that all? I put $45 into mine the other day... and it only lasted 3 days commuting.

[banditrider]

Is that all? I put $45 into mine the other day... and it only lasted 3 days commuting.

Put $40 in mine yesterday - good thing I wasn't empty, only stuck in 18L. Gonna have to actually start budgeting for fuel costs on the big Rusty rides...lemme see if fuel doesn't go up between now and the GC (yeah right!) my fuel costs should be about $250...

[Coyote]

Talking Heads on the jukebox today?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he really does have a jukebox.

Is that all? I put $45 into mine the other day... and it only lasted 3 days commuting.

Cost me $20 to fill my tank up and it's lasted me a month now... sigh

[rat biker 08]

16 LTR 1100 motor high fuel not much riding butwill be at parme on 28 june for ride cheese cutter campane

[Pogo2]

Was there last week and 91 is/was $2.55/L. The same day I think prices went up a couple of cents/L on the 'mainland' so god only knows what it would be now. BTW diesel was was 2.28/L. It cost us over $2000 to fill the boat up. Real scary stuff!

[KoroJ]

Went for a $60 ride yesterday!!

A few weeks ago I would have said I went for a 550Km ride which a year or two ago would have only cost about $40.

A bit grim when you think that if you were to do the Rusty 10K in 10 days right now, you'd be looking in the region of $1200 just on petrol......wonder what that's going to be in 2010??

[banditrider]

Went for a $60 ride yesterday!!

A few weeks ago I would have said I went for a 550Km ride which a year or two ago would have only cost about $40.

A bit grim when you think that if you were to do the Rusty 10K in 10 days right now, you'd be looking in the region of $1200 just on petrol......wonder what that's going to be in 2010??

Add another 0?

[doc]

Why is our petrol cheaper that in the UK. Last I was told they were paying 3.50 NZ a litre.

[Manxman]

$3.00/litre...

http://www.agendatv.co.nz/Site/agend...June-08-5.aspx

I watched this guy yesterday, and have to say was impressed by his knowledge and ability to get a simple message across - that a $3.00/litre price is not far away - especially if the FX rate starts slipping.

He also said that:
1) the current price increase is not caused by speculators (which many had previously thought), but by simple supply & demand driven by a smaller buffer stock held by OPEC (which makes the price more susceptible to conflicts, weather 'events', etc), plus increased demand by China.
2) the Chinese and many other asian govts subsidise their countries consumers, eg Chinese petrol companies only pay ~ $90 per barrel. China's govt can afford to due to their huge foreign currency trading surplus and fx reserves. Makes one think what will happen when this runs out and they can't afford to subsidise any longer....kaboom, huge Chinese recession...??
3) it's actually not in the interests of OPEC countries to maintain a huge cost per barrel, because there will come a point (if it hasn't already arrived) when consumers will either stop consuming, or alternatives will become economic to develop. In that scenario, demand drops significantly and OPEC countries actually lose out...interesting stuff.