- Consumer watchdog says high petrol prices due to oil rich nations’ extravagance
- Last year UAE bought a Da Vinci painting for $590 million dollars for new gallery
- Chairman of ACCC says Australians have every reason to be upset over prices
The national consumer watchdog has said Australian motorists are directly paying for the extravagance of oil-rich Middle Eastern nations.
The price of unleaded petrol has increased by over 40 cents a litre in the last two years due to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, orchestrating a supply shortage.
‘When people say there’s something going on here that is causing us to pay a lot of money for petrol, they are right: it’s called the OPEC cartel. It’s the number one factor in the height of petrol prices,’ Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims told the Herald Sun.
The national consumer watchdog has said Australian motorists are directly paying for the extravagance of oil-rich Middle Eastern nations
The price of unleaded petrol has increased by over 40 cents a litre in the last two years
‘This is a transfer from Australian motorists to the OPEC countries. I can well understand why Australian motorists resent this, and I think they should,’ he said.
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar are among the members of OPEC.
The UAE just last year bought the Leonardo da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi for $590 million and it will be housed in the newly built Louvre Abu Dhabi.
The gallery which has reportedly cost $2.6 billion to set up and paid $690 million for the rights just to use the name.
‘I think Australian motorists have got every reason to be upset that the OPEC countries are making a lot of money from the high price of petrol,’ said Mr Sims.
Oil-rich Middle Eastern nations such as the United Arab Emirates (which last year bought the Leonardo da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi for $590 million) are said to be directly profiting from the fuel prices
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