Fuel prices, that is.
Prace bets now on how much a litre of fuel is in about six months time.
I can't see it staying anywhere near as low as it is right now what with all the shit kicking off in the Middle East, (again, but the general outlook for there does look rather nasty even by the usual standards to me at least), and the value of the pound sinking down through the floor, so enjoy it whilst it lasts I guess.
Even though Tesco dropped another 3p off today, I still stand by my prediction of £1+ petrol, £1.20+ diesel of last week.
Opec cut production a couple of weeks ago, to try and force the barrel price up to $75. It was down below $45 a couple of weeks ago when I last looked.
It'll be more than that I reckon. A lot more.
Petrol at a minimum of £1.30 a litre within six months, I reckon.
The pund may be sinking, but so is the dollar and oil is priced in dollars. At present a barrel of oil is trading abelow $38, and that's largely because there's no demand for oil, not because of the political situation in the Middle East. I'm not sure what factor of Middle Eastern politics you think is unusually poor at the moment, it seems to be better than it has been for a long time.
So, will fuel prices rise again? Inevitably. As soon as this summer? Most unlikely.
Yes, this is true...
'At present', being the point.
As Elder mentioned, OPEC can and almost certainly will throttle back on the production of oil to ensure supply remains healthy below demand and thus force prices back up.
The current Gaza situation coupled with the US effectively endorsing that Israel should go and kick some arse is almost certainly going to lead to more 'anti-West' inflammation around the entire region IMHO, regardless of whether or not a minor faction of pesky ragheads kicked off the current escalation by throwing a few rockets in the direction of Israel.
I hope you're right... only I'm getting more and more tempted to get a E46
330Ci later this year whilst there's still some time left to go on the Mayan calendar. ;-)
I'm seriously looking at an S-type R now. About £7K for more fun that seems reasonable. Not least the pleasure to be taken from debadging it and watching the expressions of boy racers as the try to burn off "grandad's car".
Only one slight problem with that...
OPEC countries such as Venezuela, can't survive if they cut back on production, mainly due to the fact their governments set budgets based on the income from $75-$90 a barrel. Saudi can withstand low prices for a while. They expect countries like Saudi Arabia to cut theirs whilst they continue irrespective.
Apparently, there's a bit of a battle going on between the rich and poor countries in OPEC which could finish it.
Interesting... cheers for that. :-)
But if their budgets were based on a price double what it is now, you need to do what ever you need to bring it back up to the level you need, even if in the short term it seems like you are cutting your own throat.
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