Oil Prices Down

[bernithebiker]

Good news for all ribbers!
Oil price took another whack yesterday, so that it is now at a 6 month low (but still way above where it was 2 years ago).
Here in France, petrol is already down to as low as 1.16Euro, or 79p/litre, so I guess it must be below 90p in the UK soon.
Diesel prices are still well above petrol on international markets, so any diesel drivers, don't expect cheaper than petrol prices soon....! (Unless you get it tax free of course.....!)
However, the market structure is strong contango (future prices above current), so don't expect it to last........
Fill 'er up!

[alt]

I have being paying €0.72 for a litre of diesel for the boat for the past 3 months (Tax free agricultural)

[Matt]

Oil prices down, fuel taxes up.

[codprawn]

Current petrol price in the Uk without tax - £0.29 per litre - with tax £0.89 - says it all really!!! Even if oil was FREE we would still be paying 69p per litre!!!

The oil price just HAD to come down - it was too high because of speculators - also a massive new oil field has been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico which makes the Yanks less jittery.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Current petrol price in the Uk without tax - £0.29 per litre - with tax £0.89 - says it all really!!! Even if oil was FREE we would still be paying 69p per litre!!!

According to your figures, 60p a litre actually, but I take on board your point

(£0.89 - £0.29 = £0.60)

[bernithebiker]

I have a big tank of red diesel here for mowing and heating, which I just filled up at 63 centimes / litre, but that's not much good for my RIB, as diesel outboards have yet to be invented (unfortunately....)
The discovery in the Gulf of Mexico will take years to come on stream, it is more the lack of a hurricane, Iran and comfortable product stocks that have pushed the price down.
Surely there should be a campaign to detax marine petrol? If the diesel boys can do it, then why not us petrolheads?!
(By the way, if you're filling up at 'major' petrol stations because you think it's better quality, be very careful, this is rarely the case).

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by bernithebiker

diesel outboards have yet to be invented (unfortunately....)

http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?...iesel+outboard

[Matt]

It's been invented, it's just a piece of shit, from a performance boaters perspective.

This is an is probably of interest though :
http://www.mercurygovsales.com/technology/optimaxjp.php

[bernithebiker]

Wow, that is some engine. I knew the US Armed Forces were phasing out diesel and petrol in favour of just one fuel (jet) but I never imagined they had an outboard like that. JP5 is aircraft carrier jet fuel with very high flash point, and JP8 very similar to Jet A1 (normal commercial jet fuel).
How they get a spark ignition engine to run well on jet fuel is beyond me. Jet specification does not even test for octane rating, so how they stop it knocking I have no idea.
This would be a great engine for the public too, as kerosene is widely available in the UK (used for heating) and it is tax free.
This deserves further investigation.......

[Matt]

At that power rating, I suspect it's injecting as the spark is firing, rather than injecting before. With good combustion chamber & injector design, they can atomise the fuel into a high density swirl for combustion, but the overall a/f ratio is ultra lean to get the net emissions down nice and low. Bet it still smokes a bit on diesel though.

I could of course be talking out of my arse - I'm just speculating a bit.