Repo rate down - Petrol price up!

[porky]

While I agree with your statement Lefty, there are other factors at play and it dost really answer the OPs question.

 

Presently production has NOT slowed as you say, (Opec agreed to maintain the levels of production in the hope of a pick up in the world economy) however the USA is buying waaaaay less oil as is China and Japan.

Holding (stockpiling) the oil by producing nations also causes price increases but as regards the OP question, the fuel at the pump price has no real bearing on the repo rate or vice versa. It is interlinked but not exclusively. The price of fuel at the pumps is mainly linked to the rand / dollar exchange rate, as Lefty says when our repo rate gos down we become less attractive to investors which in normal circumstances would cause the rand to devalue, however our rate is still very high and investors still find it lucrative to invest here, we would need to drop another 3% for it to become uninteresting to investors and although it would be great, its unlikely to happen in the short term.

 

The present strengthening of the rand against the Dollar is more due to Dollar weakness than rand strength, however, the USA is such a massive economy the Dollar will strengthen again, so I dont see this flux as a permanent sign of the rand recovering.

 

[Slave]

IDJ. Initial cost is almost always seen as a huge obstacle when first investigated. I think that the powers that be though often overlook the long term savings. Big cost now, big long term benefits.

 

As Go lefty has just shown, things are not always as simple as they first appear. There are a number of other factors that determine the price of goods.

 

Simplistically, supply and demand are key factors in determining price and are by no means the only ones.

 

Global warming is certainly something that concerns me deeply right now. If we think about it, we are almost at mid winter. So far we have only had one cold snap (this past weekend). How do I know this? I have cycled every weekend so far this year and this is the frst time I got cold and I don't have much in the way of winter gear.

 

I remember winter before when we used to get frost in late April and early May. This year, only very late may.

 

No matter how it is done, crude oil useage has to be reduced radically. (Of course this is only my opinion.)

 

If one is to believe the conspiracy therorists, then big oil companies control a lot of decisions with big bucks.

 

It certainly cannot hurt to use more environmentally friendly ways to generate cheap power even if those savings are longer-term.

 

In the long run, we need to save the environment as well as find sustainable way to do it and keep commerce going.

 

No matter how blase many are about the environment, now would be a good time to turn it around.

 

Riding in the SBR nature reserve on Saturday, I looked towrds the city and was appalled by the cloud of dirty poluted air hanging over the city.

 

Little wonder so many people suffer from asthma and other lung problems today. The shyte in the atmosphere just over JHB alone was enough to cause me concern. Do we really breathe that air every day?

 

IMNAAHO, not enough is going on to curb global warming, behind the scenes or not.

 

Perhaps this would be a good time for me to end as I seem to have gone off topic. 

 

 

 

[GoLefty!!]

I agree Porky, What we seeing now is just another blip on the screen.

 

Perhaps I did not say it clearly or not at all; the Pump price of fuel is linked to the interest rates but sort of anecdotally. If we maintain or attract more foreign revenue then we can offset that against the OP,meaning we pay closer to the Brent price than we normally would. As its stands we can pay up to 3 or 4USD a barrel more than the indicative price.

Other factor like supply point also factors into the equation.

For Example, the price of Bonny Light is not the same as Iranian Light while Girasol is even cheaper.

Bonny light, being low in sulphur can be much more expensive than even Brent due to the demand for low sulphur fuels in Europe.

 

There a miriad of factors to consider.

 

[Shebeen]

idj. even if they had two or three hydro plants' date=' it would reduce a massive amount of coal consumption. That's a lot of greenhiuse gass.

 

Don't kid yourself on the amount of time left before we run out of options to turn off global warming. I believe the problem to be in need of very urgent attention.

 

There is solar and wind energy as well and I see precious little use of that in Africa.

[/quote']

don't think hydro was ever an answer for us.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hydropower_stations_in_Africa

now each coal station averages about 3500MW ( i think)

 

they are planning on building one on the Congo river. Grand Inga at 40 000MW. it'll power the whole of west africa...but the environmental cost of shutting off a huge river like that is also massive.

 

solar + wind - both extremely low yield. unless you live on a karoo plaas miles from the grid don't even think about it

 

either we p#$% about for another 50 years trying to find a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels that is actually viable without subsidies. and then go nuclear or we just do the smart thing and go 100% nuclear right now.

 

 

 

 

[porky]

idj. even if they had two or three hydro plants' date=' it would reduce a massive amount of coal consumption. That's a lot of greenhiuse gass.

 

Don't kid yourself on the amount of time left before we run out of options to turn off global warming. I believe the problem to be in need of very urgent attention.

 

There is solar and wind energy as well and I see precious little use of that in Africa.

[/quote']

don't think hydro was ever an answer for us.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hydropower_stations_in_Africa

now each coal station averages about 3500MW ( i think)

 

they are planning on building one on the Congo river. Grand Inga at 40 000MW. it'll power the whole of west africa...but the environmental cost of shutting off a huge river like that is also massive.

 

 

Yah, probably right, although to see the huge hydro power stations in Europe, especially in France and to a lesser degree Italy is just mind boggeling.

 

[IdeJongh]

Slave, ja agree this hijack has gone nuts.  Even though we might disagree on some points regarding these issues, I agree with you that our fossil fuel dependacy needs to be adressed asap, as a sustainable answer wont come easy.

[GoLefty!!]

hydro electric power is a huge environmental disaster imo.

Europe can build these plants because their rivers flow year round. In SA our rivers are seasonal and our mountain peaks are not high enough.

 

What can work here is mix of alternative energies like Wind, Wave, Nuclear, Bio fuel.

 

If we ca secure energy supply and be less reliant on fossil fuels our economy will be less volatile.