Something smells at the petrol bowser at the moment and it's not just petrol fumes.
Back in 2008 we had the last big oil price spike when a barrel of crude soared to $US142 and the price of unleaded at the pump got to $1.719.
The Australian dollar was around the 0.95c.
As of yesterday the price of unleaded petrol around Ballarat was between $1.45 and $1.49 per litre with a barrel of crude sitting more than 50 per cent below the 2008 high at $92 while the Australian dollar is at $1.035 US.
The correlations work out as follows: petrol at the bowser (at best) 18 per cent below the 2008 high, a barrel of oil is 54 per cent below the 2008 high and the Australian dollar is nine per cent higher than at the time of the high oil price.
Looks like we are being screwed again. Now there appears to be no money in the oil refinery business as one of our big refiners has decided to close up shop leaving us ever more vulnerable to the whims of offshore refiners.
What is interesting to note is that while the Federal Government is all too willing to subsidise the makers of the petrol-guzzling Ford in a marginal seat with our tax dollars (keeping the sensitive details secret), no such plan to keep petrol refiners from leaving our shores has even been mooted - whether in secret or not.
ANTHONY CINCOTTA
Scarsdale