Numbers show fuel price interruption is possible
Considerable hikes to all petroleum products on the way for Thursday

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, April 15, 2008- Consumers in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador can expect to be hit with a huge increase to all petroleum products this coming Thursday morning if George Murphy’s numbers are right. The numbers are substantial and could start to prove a bone of contention in this country if they remain high.

How much to expect
“So far this regulation period, we’re looking at five days data that are all showing at least at least a 6.7 cent a litre increase to stove oils and a 5.1 cent a litre increase coming for gasoline. Monday’s market numbers are also up for crude oil which has only enforced those figures. I believe there is a very strong possibility that other commodities like heating oil and diesel will also get to take this hit as they are so closely related to stove oils, being part of the same distillate group of fuels. This morning, crude oil hit a new record of $112.48 a U.S barrel as the U.S dollar continues a slide against other world currencies and that is only enforcing my belief that interruption will happen this coming Thursday morning,” said Murphy.

Consumers could face tough choices
“I don’t think we can predict where this will end now. We have a case where people will start to become energy-starved and will face a bigger problem of affording energy over food. That goes especially for people who are on fixed incomes. What we are witnessing on the markets is an investor’s complete fixation with the money to be made off the petroleum markets and consumers are being faced with some pretty tough choices as a result. If we don’t see a substantial drop-off in spot pricing for heating and stove oils in the next couple of weeks, we will face some serious problems keeping warm next winter and that goes for everyone in the province as some electricity is generated via the burning of petroleum products. This is the time of year when we should be witness to falling heating and stove oil pricing, not increases. It has to break. Prices as high as they are now are not sustainable on anyone’s part! If this trend keeps up we’re looking at the possibility that any heating rebate program just isn’t going to cut it and we’ll have to see government assist people into breaking their dependency on oil-related products.

Reasons for the possible increases
“Oil is up for several reasons. Last week saw considerable draws against U.S inventories, as well as supply disruptions in places such as Nigeria, Mexico and the Middle East. Demand for crude in China is also expected to grow as economic growth is expected to hit 10 per cent for the first quarter of the year.

Canada may to face the tough questions
“I believe that this country is going to have to face the tough question about how we are going to afford to keep ourselves warm if we continue to face high prices for oil-related commodities. If people are no longer going to be able to afford heating oil over food, and farmers begin to invest heavily into energy industry related crops, them we may also face the problem of ever-increasing food pricing. We already are facing mass increases in wheat, corn and other crops on mere speculation. When you start to hit food pricing as other world nations have seen, then we have a serious problem. What is this country prepared to do in the event that we face a continuance of the situation we are witnessing in the world markets now?

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For more information, contact;

George Murphy
Group researcher/Member
Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices
gasprices@hotmail.com