High gas prices hit consumers worldwide

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

PARIS - Feeling woozy about the fortune you've just pumped into your gas tank? Drivers around the world share the sensation.

Consumers, gas retailers and governments are wrestling with a new energy order, where rising oil prices play a larger role than ever in the daily lives of increasingly mobile people. But as the cost of crude mounts, the effect on the price at the pump varies startlingly — from Venezuela, where gas is cheaper than water, to Turkey, where a full tank can cost more than a domestic plane ticket.

Taxes and subsidies are the main reasons for the differences, along with lesser factors such as limited oil refining capacity and hard-to-reach geography that push up prices.

<snip>

As she pumped gas worth $9.66 a gallon she looked wistfully at a commuter climbing onto one of the city's cheap rent-a-bikes, an option not open to her since she travels long distances to perform.

High taxes in Europe and Japan have long accustomed consumers to staggering pump prices, which now are testing new pain thresholds — and it could have been even worse, if a strong euro hadn't cushioned some of the blow. As a result, plenty of European adults never even bother to learn to drive, preferring cheap mass transit to cumbersome cars.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/price_at_the_pump

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[SpiralHawk]

1. "Smirk." - Commander AWOL & republicon oil cronies

[barb162]

9. Do you believe in the idea of peak oil and it's becoming scarcer?

Do the Saudis have some inexhaustible supply?

[Ravachol]

2. Damn socialists...

Venezuela... $0.12...

Luckily, the Free World is there to make sure everyone pays. Except the corporations.

[barb162]

10. Saudis pay about the same and they're not socialists.

[The Diest]

3. Venezuela: .12 because there is no TAX????

Seriously, is that the only reason?

[Baby Snooks]

6. They subsidize

When you nationalize, you keep more of the profit. So you can use part of the profit you keep to subsidize the price at the pump. Which is why in countries that have nationalized their reserves you see ridiculously low prices at the pump. Indonesia was forced to pull out of OPEC and remove the subsidy. Indonesians now pay $2.80 a gallon.

[dipsydoodle]

17. They treat it as a public utility

and price it accordingly.

[Doctor Cynic]

18. ...which is why Hummers for the rich are so popular.

[dipsydoodle]

20. Public utilities

are public utilities. You can't differentiate on who's buying. The great majority of the population, who are far from rich, benefit.

[Doctor Cynic]

22. Read my next post.

Chavez himself says that gas prices are disgustingly cheap since they divert money from social programs.

[Doctor Cynic]

19. ...and why Hugo Chavez himself supports raising fuel prices to pay for more projects.

[Baby Snooks]

4. But in eurodollars...

In eurodollars, we are paying around $6 a gallon. Part of the reason why even with the conversion to eurodollars they are paying more is simply that they pay more in gasoline taxes. The other part is the market manipulation. Even with that, even if the price per barrel falls somewhat, we have just been spoiled in this country. The days of cheap gasoline are over. The days of cheap everything are over.

Congress could be bold and try to "nationalize" our reserves but I am not sure that even if they could at this point that it would matter much in terms of price at the pump. Most of the existing developed fields have long term leases. The price per barrel wouldn't be affected on oil from those fields until the leases expired and most of the fields would probably be depleted by the time the leases expired. So it's really a lose-lose situation at this point.

Years ago Lloyd Bentsen and George HW Bush ran for a Senate seat in Texas. It literally was a race between the independent oilman (Bentsen) and big oil aka the Seven Sisters (Bush) and while Bentsen won, big oil in the end still won and moved towards multi-nationalism and that is really where the problem with big oil is. They are no longer big American oil companies. They are simply big oil companies.

Quite a few were aghast when Halliburton moved it's headquarters to Dubai. Most of Halliburton moved offshore a long time ago. One division in fact has been dealing with Iran all these years. So much for trading with the enemy. It depends on where your division is located.

Compounding the problem is deregulation. Not only are energy prices in general "fluid" meaning they can be easily manipulated but gasoline prices can be as well. And are. Just as speculators are "testing the market" the oil companies are testing the market as well. At the pump.

Some believe the Seven Sisters as they were once called are in fact just One Sister at this point and that we really have a company called Exxon-Mobil-BP-Chevron-Shell and Company which is now in competition with China Oil which is a major player at this point because of the amount of oil it imports. Along with Hong Kong came capitalism which the Chinese government has actually encouraged. They are becoming a major economic force. They will pay $150, 200, maybe even 250 a barrel if need be although in many cases they are partially paying themselves. And can afford to. China Oil is the Chinese government's equivalent of the independent oilman. And they have discovered the fun of wildcatting. Both in the fields and in the banks.

Regardless of anything else, our world is rapidly changing. And our lives with it. And not for the better.

[Amonester]

5. "duh"

O peration i raq L iberation

was how the war criminals called it first

(and even didn't try to hide their grin)

[Baby Snooks]

7. And more liberation on the way!

We will see more oil wars. And an expansion of this one. Probably before Bush leaves office. We are moving into a very draconian era in the history of civilization. We are running out of oil. And so the "tribal instinct" is taking over. While the motivation at the moment is greed, just the same we have to attempt to ensure we have sufficient oil to meet our needs until alternative energy, something Congress along with the succession of presidents since Jimmy Carter has ignored all these years, is developed. It took Brazil 30 years to become 50% independent of oil and 85% independent of gasoline.

How much oil we really have in domestic reserves is a big question mark. But someone must not think there is that much to have begun the first of many oil wars to come.

Survival of the fittest is becoming survival of the ones with the oil.

[Amonester]

8. Let me call that "the history of barbari$m"

because it ain't "the history of civilization" at all.

Thanks.

[barb162]

12. The era of cheap energy is certainly coming to an end

And there will very possibly be wars over it. What strikes me as ridiculous is that people think cheap energy is their right. Changes are
acomin'.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. In 2005 -2006 gas was around 3.40 a gallon in Ca.

barrel of oil was around 63.00



Memorial Day Ca. 2008 price of gas:



Barrel of oil was around 135.00

1 barrel of oil ( 44 to 55 gallons, depending on who you read)=
14 to 19 gallons of gasoline ( depending on who you read.)

so if the price of a BARREL doubled from 2005 to 2008, why hasn't the price of gas doubled?
( not that I want it to...)

What am i missing?

[barb162]

13. Refining costs, transport costs, etc., may be held down.

BTW, I'd use 32 gallons as a barrel. Each barrel doesn't result in 100% of gasoline either. The % of kerosene, diesel, gasoline, etc., could be changing from 2 years ago.

[not fooled]

14. they're trying to keep the lid on...

...the boiling pot until they can install Grampa in the WH. And, of course, try to keep the 'pukes from losing as much as possible in the election.

[barb162]

15. Yeah, but in the long run it won't make any diff who is in the WH

because the world (and increasing world usage) will still be running out of oil and there are more and more people from other countries wanting to use it. People in this country and others don't want to change their lifestyles or their thinking about cheap energy.

[high density]

16. Glad they show the amount of taxes in that graph

With the exception of Russia and Venuzuela, it looks like we're all paying inflated prices on the actual gas itself.

[dipsydoodle]

21. In the UK

68% of the pump price of diesel is tax and diesel is currently c. £1.26 / litre which is about $2.50 / litre. Can't convert further to the strange US gallon.