And you thought $1.70 was bad.
A new report issued by the Australian research institute CSIRO warns that the price of a litre of petrol could soar as high as $8 AUD within the next decade if current fuel consumption and production trends continue.
The aptly-named Fuel For Thought study believes that unless something is done to address the world’s escalating demand for fuel, prices for the commodity are just going to spiral ever upwards as oil reserves run lower and lower
Not only does this spell disaster for us petrol-lovin’ hedonists, but the global economy would surely grind to a halt once fuel becomes so prohibitively expensive. The cost of road and sea transport would drive up the price of both imported and locally produced goods, while products that use any kind of oil-derived plastic would also become beyond the reach of the common man. Eventually, lawlessness would ensue and outlaw gangs would roam the roads of Australia, brutally murdering anyone foolish enough to get between them and a tanker full of oil. The artist’s rendering below depicts what Australia might be like if petrol cost eight bucks a litre:
But seriously folks, this is bad. The way things are looking, petrol will probably reach the $8 point before 2018 rolls around and I don’t know about you, but once Tata start making those air powered cars I’m gunna buy me one and head out to my secret outback bunker to escape the madness of a petrol-deprived society. Better bring my sawn-off shotgun too, never know when you might run into those darn bikers.
[ABC News, image courtesy of Village Roadshow]
Loading ...
Comments
Click here to jump to Add Comment box
How do you get a picture next to your name?
Get a Gravatar. Click here to find out more.
This sort of thing always seems bizarre to me, and I guess it shows my lack of economics understanding.
Does it not stand to reason that if oil companies keep raising their prices beyond the reach of the common man’s ability to reasonably afford it, thereby pushing more and more people away from cars and on to PT or pushbikes, aren’t they eventually just cutting their own throats?
I would have thought one of the first rules of business was to keep your profit margin as high as possible, while remaining in reach of enough people that you can actually sell your product to as many people as possible. If you keep raising the price so that only certain folks can afford it, are you still going to make as much money? And if the world does go bananas and we get revolutions and global riots and societal collapse, what’s the point?
If you raise the price higher and higher, surely you risk the chance of us poor plebs saying “enough is enough”, and wouldn’t it be better to have us saying “it sucks, but what else can I do”?
I guess I’d make a shit businessman, haha.
Maxamillian’s right. There’s a threshold to consider where economies grind to a halt over middle income peoples’ inability to pay high gas prices. Nobody wins in that scenario.
Ha! Your puny, air compressed Nano is no match for my V8 Interceptor…
…well, it’s really a ‘96 Hyundai Excel powered by corn starch. But times are tough, okay?
hmm, maybe I shouldn’t buy that Ford F250 after all :p
Not the stuff you want to hear tho as a soon-to-be owner of a new car, but then again, there’s nothing on the market that is “enironmetally friendly” and runs purely on electricity or air..and the tata “car” is hideous, let alone impractical, but it’s a very positive start, which should have been taken on by all carmakers many years ago. Like the article says, one also has to remember that freight will still require refined oil and plastics (and in the times we live in, almost everything is made of fantastic plastic) require oil to make the products we love, and use everyday, could be pretty grim…i’d say it’s time for the governments to start working (for once) for a solution to reduce people’s and industry’s reliance on oil, big task but it’s gotta be done :/
The thing is, since there’s no viable alternative to petrol right now…someone will pay. If the oil companies know their days are numbered, they’ll cash in while they can.
Whether its the filthy rich wanting to flaunt their wealth, or businesses/government/military who need internal combustion engines for their activities and will pay whatever is asked. Yes, the common man may go to public transport or riding pushbikes. But they’ll make more money keeping global transport (shipping and aircraft) going, because those people have no choice but to pay. Sailing ships lack the pace or storage capacity, and horse-drawn road transport doesn’t cut it either.
There’s also the issue that the US will pay whatever is required to keep their military superiority. Without all their tech, the numerical superiority of Asia pushes the balance of power in their favour.
The US may try to invade to secure supply, but China would intervene if it gave the US sole control over the world’s oil supply…for the exact same reasons.
We’ll find alternative fuels eventually. How soon remains to be seen. And whether we slip into another world war in the meantime.
“Cashing in while they can” seems to be the M.O. of the oil companies, doesn’t it? Whether it’s global warming or using every last drop of crude, the barons figure they’ll be gone before it happens.
People in the US are throwing themselves off bridges over $5.00 per GALLON. I hope this puts the final nail in the coffin for SUV as status symbol eliminates 90% of the traffic around LA.
SUV sales dropped radicaly in the US recently. Even if the price if wonderfull cheap to the european gas price.
As long as people buy gas there won’t be any substitutes or “synthetic” solution. And I am sure the oil companies already have some sort of solution on the desk for the case we run out of oil. Until then. We have to pay.