Some facts about the state of petrol

Sir,

I read with interest the comments on the front page of the online Cyprus Mail regarding the fluctuation in the cost of petrol in Cyprus.

What many people do not realise about the price of oil is the fact that crude oil being delivered for refining now was probably purchased around two months ago and the crude oil purchased now is for delivery around end of September.

A spike in crude price now, should not affect the price of petrol for at least one month and any increase based on that spike now is probably profiteering.

The fact is that the price of fuel will fluctuate at the same rate as the price of crude oil, but some weeks behind it.

This is where the general public are lacking in information and I am afraid the journalists too suffer from this misconception as many do not understand how it works.

I have worked in the oil industry for 32 years and have seen the industry go through many peaks and troughs and be pilloried for the so-called profiteering.

It is a fact of life that even the cost of getting that barrel of oil out of the ground is actually becoming more expensive as it is harder and harder to find more and major oil companies are spending huge sums of money drilling wells in very inhospitable conditions to meet the demands of the public for a commodity which will soon be as scarce as the water in Cyprus. 

At least the water has a chance of replenishment but the same is not true for the oil and gas laid down in the earth so many years ago.

I think that more effort should be going in to finding alternatives to fossil fuel before the resource runs out due to the uncontrolled use of a dwindling reserve.

George H. Grant,
Ypsonas

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.