Ireland - Strikes and blockades

DonJose

WTF is happening to Ireland/Europe over the last couple of weeks. Last week an unofficial rail strike cause havoc down in Cork/Kerry. Yesterday there was a work stoppage involving 30,000 health workers. A couple of ports have been blocked by fishermen. The truckers are considering mounting blockades. Now workers at an oil storage facility in Bantry Bay have begun a 48 hour stoppage. The ISEQ is at a multi year low. Fuel prices are at a record high, and still climbing. In Europe the **** has hit the fan with food and fuel supplies running out in parts of Spain due to the truckers blockade, there have been 2 deaths so far related to the blockade, 1 in Spain and 1 in Portugal. I can only see this getting worse as oil prices continue to rise. I'm making sure I have a full tank and I'll probably fill up a contain, flashback to the 70's when there were queues outside petrol stations.

Davidius

Yes.

leeroybrown

Record high prices. Restated reserves. Large oil companies worsening the situation by delaying spending on extra exploitation and flow assurance to ensure steady supply. I'd expect OPEC to try to control it slightly but for prices to continue to rise more gradually with spikes due to various influences (like this week). You do expect an occasional trucking blockade anyway.

There are probably already people stockpiling out there. Maybe I'm wide of the mark but my vague recollection of the law is that 'technically' you need a licence to store more than 250 litres of petrol due to it's hazardous classification.

mikemac

leeroybrown wrote: »

Maybe I'm wide of the mark but my vague recollection of the law is that 'technically' you need a licence to store more than 250 litres of petrol due to it's hazardous classification.

Wouldn't think so. A huge percentage of farmers have tanks full of petrol and diesel for their machienry. A tank could last months depending on use.

Possibly it's different if you live in a town. And your insurance company certainly needs to know.

Sherifu

DonJose wrote: »

there have been 2 deaths so far related to the blockade, 1 in Spain and 1 in Portugal.

Standing in front of trucks is a bad idea.

seamus

leeroybrown wrote: »

Maybe I'm wide of the mark but my vague recollection of the law is that 'technically' you need a licence to store more than 250 litres of petrol due to it's hazardous classification.

I'm not entirely sure. I would imagine that farmers and medium-large hauliers though have substantial tanks of their own.

The main issue at the moment is banks and other large investment companies buying oil futures. This is similar to buying shares in oil - the greater the demand for these shares, the more they cost.

There isn't specifically any *shortage* of oil, just an influx of companies buying it to "store" for the future. The idea being that if/when oil becomes short, the bank owns ten millions barrels of oil @ $120/barrel, which can then be sold on at $250/barrel. I put "store" in quotes, because the oil doesn't actually get stored, it's more an agreement between the bank and the oil producer about the price that they'll pay for the oil when they need it.

OPEC and so forth have very little interest in stopping this situation - they're getting more money for the same product, and they don't charge themselves that much for the product.

The main danger is coming from the continual devaluation of the dollar. We've seen massive jumps in the oil price recently, but we haven't seen the same price rise at the pumps. This is because the dollar devaluation offsets some of the rise. It's akin to the US federal reserve simply printing more money in order to make more money available.
If the dollar reaches a particular point (particularly against the euro), the value of banks' oil futures is at risk of collapsing, and they may switch to the euro.


To answer the OP's question: Most of the world is in a recession or is on the way. It's going to stay like this until the end of 2009 most likely.

gixerfixer

Yeap.The cracks are beginning to show:)

jester77

And the farmers are on strike here because of the milk prices... dry cornflakes don't work when you're in a hurry

leeroybrown

micmclo wrote: »

Wouldn't think so. A huge percentage of farmers have tanks full of petrol and diesel for their machienry. A tank could last months depending on use.

I think it just applies to petrol and not diesel due to it's much higher flammability. I'll need to do some digging and see if I can find it.

EDIT - I think it's covered in the petroleum section of the Dangerous Substances Act.