As fuel prices rise everyone seems to be talking about the price we pay at the pump. However it also seems that many people don’t really understand how that price comes about. Hopefully this short piece will help.
There are three main components to the price at the pump:
Price of the product
Excise duty
Value Added […]
Those are the words of Christophe de Margerie, head of exploration for Total and heir presumptive to the leadership of the French energy multinational as reported by The Times newspaper today (8th April 06): World ‘cannot meet oil demand’. In the interview de Margerie addressed the IEA’s World Energy Outlook which predicts world […]
On the back of a 2% rise in the price of oil and 0.44% fall in the value of the UK pound against the US dollar today I believe we have a new record price for oil when the US dollar price of West Texas Intermediate is expressed in UK pounds (hat tip ianbeale). […]
It has been apparent since the summer of 2005 that gas supplies this winter were going to be tight. Despite this the UK energy minister Malcolm Wicks had the audacity to state that the country was “awash with gas” when the evidence showed the situation to be tighter than ever.
Events are transpiring against us […]
For the last couple of hours I’ve been reading in amazement a report from Deloitte’s Energy, Infrastructure and Utilities division. Its title: 2020 vision - Meeting UK power generation objectives in 2020.
I say reading in amazement since it is exactly the report I would have written had I had the resources. The […]
Well what do you know, gas prices are up again. The BBC report:
22% rise from British Gas (about 55% of market)
14.7% rise from EDF (London Energy, Seeboard and SWEB)
15% rise from Scottish Power (UK’s 5th largest supplier)
This of course shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone reading this but there are a few […]
I’ve recently been working on a response for the DTI’s current consultation: Our Energy Challenge - Securing clean, affordable energy for the long-term
More about that later but I just wanted to mention this graph from the document projecting the levels fuel poverty:
This is the second most detached from reality projection I have seen from Government […]
The big supermarkets take a lot of criticism these days for their negative effect on local economies (Tesco alone has 30% of UK grocery market), the viability for UK and overseas farmers and the environment due to excessive food transportation (beans from Kenya and apples from New Zealand). Some Tesco specific issues are […]
The BBC reported today what could be regarded as little more than a political historic curiosity but when considered against the situation we find ourselves in now makes an interesting point. Previously secret governments papers, released under the 30-year rule illustrate the then concern within government for a devolved and potentially independent Scotland. […]
On Thursday 29th December I went for a drive. I drove from Monmonth to North Somercotes following the route below. When I departed at 10:40am it was -4C, by noon near Birmingham it was -1C, just before Grimsby at around 3pm it was -6C and by 4pm in North Somercotes it was […]