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OIL PRICES EDGED up slightly after reaching six-year lows, but gains were relatively low due to concerns about oversupply, weak demand and Greece’s political future.
However, drivers are still feeling the benefits at the pumping stations, with Ireland’s average price for petrol yesterday standing at 127.9c, while Diesel came in at 119.9c.
This is a far cry from prices a few months ago, which were approaching the €1.60 mark.
This week signifies a further fall from prices in the second week in January, where you were paying an average 129.9c for petrol and 121.9c for Diesel.
Winning at the petrol pumps
The winners here are motorists who are noticing that they’re getting more for their euro when filling up their tanks.
While we are making savings – about 20% – in comparison to this time two years ago, it’s not as much as perhaps we would like. However, every little helps.
Comparing prices from the same period in 2015, 2014 and 2013, motorists are getting that little bit extra for their euro.
If we take an average car – Volkswagen Golf, 1.4 engine, with an average of 6.5 litres/100km and look at some of Ireland’s most common journeys from A to B, you’ll see savings are being made.
Petrol price:
A journey from Dublin to Cork yesterday would cost about €21.01, in 2014 it would set you back €24.63, and in 2013 €25.94.
Dublin to Belfast would cost €13.93 but in 2014 it would have been €16.32 and in 2013, it would cost you €17 to cover the distance.
Yesterday, in order to travel from Galway to Cork, you would have to fill the tank with €16.36 to cover the distance, while in 2014 it would cost you €19.17, and in 2013, €20.23.
Limerick to Cork yesterday costs €8.23 in the tank, while in 2013 and 2014, it cost €9.64 and €10.16, respectively.
Travelling from Dublin to Mayo yesterday would on average cost €19.57 to make sure you cover the kilometres to get there, while in 2014 you would be paying nearly €23 and in 2013, over €24.00.
These might not seem like huge savings and you are perhaps wondering why the price hasn’t come down even more?
However, it’s important to remember prices motorists pay at the petrol stations all depends on what country you live in, as a lot of the price you are paying for at the filling station is tax in the form of VAT, imposed by Government.
Tax
In Ireland, when both excise duty and VAT are added together, it amounts to 59% of the price of petrol. This is down from 61% in 2004, according the the Department of Finance.
This is why we don’t see quite a big fall-off as in other countries like the US who tax gas at a low rate.
Uncertainty is still in the air about how low prices can go, with the secretary-general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Abdalla Salem el-Badri, saying on Monday that oil prices appear to have bottomed out and could be poised for a rebound, reports The Wall Street Journal.
But Mr. el-Badri also said that OPEC intends to stick to its decision to keep its output stable.
Falling prices
Oil has lost more than half its value since June last year when the commodity was sitting at more than $100 a barrel.
So, should we care if the price keeps on falling? Surely, it is good for our pockets anyway?
The president of state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company in terms of crude production and exports, said yesterday that world oil prices have fallen too far.
“It’s too low for everybody,” Khalid al-Falih told a conference.
I think even consumers start to suffer in the long term.It will be the price that will balance supply and demand. I think we’re going to just wait for the forces of supply and demand.
Additional reporting AFP. Average prices from Pumps.ie.
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My passwords are so secure, even I can’t get into them…
@Willie Murphy: As long as you can get into your email you can hit the “forgot password” button
Of course anyone who can access your email can do this. It’s a single point of failure for many passwords.
@Willie Murphy: Déan as Gaeilge é! Simplí
Tomorrow’s poll: What is your mother’s maiden name, the street you grew up on and your first childhood pet?
All my passwords are “incorrect” so when I enter anything I get this reminder…
“Your password is incorrect”.
@KTH: very handy
You can be safer but nothing is truly safe. If it’s online, it’s hackable by someone. There are multiple governments who can fly past any of your security measures if they really want to. And let’s face it huge numbers of us have already given over more than enough information to be compromised in some way. Endless photos, life details, locations, likes, preferences, social circles etc.
After the supposedly secure messaging service all the criminals were using was hacked by the authorities, it’s not so much whether your information is safe as opposed to whether anyone with power can be bothered hacking you.
I’m sure plenty have already received dodgy emails after something they signed up to years ago was hacked, and some of your data leaked.
Privacy is practically non-existent now anyway. From CCTV to people filming on their phones, there’s barely anywhere you can escape the surveillance.
You can’t use Irish Stew as a password.
It’s not Stroganoff.
I know it’s an old one
Yes mine is very secure, it’s flatulence123
@mel finn: something smells fishy about that password. You need to change it.
@mel finn: Flatulence is not very secure. You’re talking a lot of hot air.
Passwords won’t keep anyone working at Google from snooping through your emails. Happened to me.
@Niamh: Not using Google for email will.
@Steve O’Hara Smith.: I changed to AOL
@Niamh: For real security host your own email service (assuming you have broadband). There’s a learning curve but the result is much better privacy.
To get to my email you first have to get into my home network (I run a VPN for when I’m away) it’s not visible directly on the Internet except to receive incoming mail.
@Steve O’Hara Smith.: I didn’t know I could do that! Thanks for the tip :)
@Niamh: Fair warning, I meant it about the learning curve. It’s not as easy today as it was in 1993 when I first did it.
@Niamh: who was snooping through your emails? An ex?
Song lyrics are a great source of easy to remember passwords. Just add a standard prefix or suffix with the capitals, numbers and special characters.
@Steve O’Hara Smith.: no no, no, no, no no, no, no, no no, no, no, there’s no limit!
@Steve O’Hara Smith.: Works fine as long as no one sits there humming their tune ;-)
@F Fitzgerald: You can find my list of sites and songs and you still won’t know the prefix/suffix or know how much of which part of the song I’ve used let alone which words I’ve misheard (excuse me while I kiss this guy).
Considering they are compiling the most popular ones and printing them how would they be secure?
@peter browne: In the late 1970s someone in my universities computer lab (in those days a mostly male environment) found over 80% of the student passwords, using a book popular with new parents, and posted the list on the department noticeboard.
The book – “500 Names for Girls”.
Yes.. I always use my dogs name. Rocky. And his age. 11. They would never guess that.
Stick this pole up ye jaxie gicker
Is that your password?
5t1ck.th15.p0l3.up.y3.jax1e.g1ck3r
My two favourite passwords are “123” and “password”.
I let Last Pass create a password for me.
@Magnificent Mongoose: LastPass had a major breach last year exposing millions of vault master passwords, so you’re not as secure as you think you are.
@David Ronan: Yep two people can keep a secret – if one of them is dead.
@David Ronan: I never claimed to be secure
MndYreoinb1zness
Couldn’t tell ya I’m locked out.
I tend to use house phone numbers I had to commit to memory as a kid. 9/10 digits in a random order would be near impossible for anyone to figure out, theres at least 1000 different combinations I think. that’s my thought process on the matter anyway.
I tried to create a new password,using a mixture of uppercase,lowercase,a number and a symbol. I put in Beefstew9% “sorry,your password is not stroganoff”
Just make it too difficult for normal privacy. If the bad guys want to get to you they will. You’re unlikely to be that important to them.
Also never share your passwords! With anyone!
A bad breakup I know of was made much worse when one ex-partner used their knowledge of the other’s passwords to wreck their Facebook profile, delete all their contacts and change both Facebook and email passwords so they were locked out of their accounts.
I change passwords every few months and try not to use the same password on multiple sites, I have a gmail account because, y’know, Android, but use a different account for everything else. I don’t stay logged in on sites and log out when I’m finished and I wipe my browser history at least once a week
Hope the Sharks get a chance to view the final after the match against Leinster on Saturday evening
@Morrissey Michael: Clever, but it’s a bit long to be memorable.
Ring of steel
Long password phrases like heymynameisnonofyoyrbusinessbudfy is a trillion plus times harder to crack than F()&;3jit as it’s the length of the password and not the character style.
Mine is really good
12345!pw
See?
I got far too many accounts with random gibberish for their passwords… I just use Dashlane to manage it all.
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