If we stop buying fuel from Shell & BP would prices fall?

Question

The idea is that if enough people buy from other than these giants then they would have to reduce their prices and the others would have to follow. It could be a great example of people power. What do you think?

Answer 1

No,,most of the price you pay is direct tax to the government,,the retailers like BP,Tesco Shell etc make just a penny or two profit at the pumps,,,the oil prices experienced by the world are due to forces outside our control,,war,,global credit crisis,,deflation and recession,,

Answer 2

no ,because gordon brown has no idea of the principle in business ,it is better to take a little,more often.than a large amount rarely.

he wants a large amount of tax all the time so he can give it away to foreigners,

he cant grasp the more tax he puts on the less people will buy..

it isnt the greedy oil companies as brown would have you believe when the gov.rakes off 67% of the cost of a litre of petrol

Answer 3

We often forget that the fuel price is mainly TAX and Shell and BP while making profits have no control over the duty they and us pay.

The Government does not like cars and the current price is helping their green credentials so they are unlikely to do much to change it.

Answer 4

Possibly but not by much as this government driven on by the Greene's would immediately increase the tax on road fuel.

Answer 5

I see emails like that all the time. It'll never work though, gas is a resource that America needs. You still need to get to work, and if everybody decided to take public transportation, well, they use gasoline, too.

In some parts of America the only oil companies in their towns are Shell and/or BP...so that doesn't work.

Gas is like water, if they raised the price of water, people wouldn't stop using it...you just can't do it.

We're getting screwed, that's why I'm glad Bush is on his way out!!

Answer 6

No.  Shell and BP don't sell enough gas to control the price of it.  You have to go after the whole complex web of people, governments and companies that controls the prices.  It's not as simple as some people think.  There are government controlled oil companies, private companies, government regulations that raise the cost of production, OPEC controlling the Middle Eastern oil supply, etc. etc.  The laws of supply and demand don't apply with oil.

Answer 7

Nope. And you should be careful with your antagonistic questions!! You might p**s off one of those giants and get swatted with a rolled up Tesla design from the gigantic pile of suppressed alternatives to the soulless bloodsucking you are currently a slave to!! OOOOH HAHAHAHAH (maniacal laugh, eh?)   seriously, magnets don't require gas or even electricity... hmmm. check out the over-unity stuff on your favorite video site.  sleep tight...

Answer 8

No, it would never work.  The others would not necessarily follow, and they'd raise their prices again.  This is an old urban legend.

Answer 9

Reading the news these days it seems no one knows anything about fuel prices.

I say give it a go.

Answer 10

No.  This suggestion is based on a total lack of understanding of how fuel prices are set.  This idea is as pointless now, as it was about 5 years ago, when it was first suggested (which is why it has never happened).

First off, the fuel companies take about 5% of the price of every litre of fuel sold.  The Government, on the other hand, takes about 75% of the price of every litre of fuel sold.  Boycotting specific fuel suppliers will have no effect on that at all.

Secondly, who do you think owns the refineries?  The Grangemouth refinery in Scotland is owned by BP.  Grangemouth supplies 95% of ALL the fuel sold in Scotland - to petrol stations, airports, hospitals and businesses.  No matter what it says on the pump, the fuel in Scotland is supplied by BP.  How can you possibly boycott that?

Like I said, you don't actually understand the real situation...

Answer 11

No, it won't. And we'd still get that same email every other month.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/...