I don't know if it is a slow news day or what, but locally and nationally agencies are reporting on "cheap" gas prices. By the reporting standards, $3.00 per gallon is cheap. I find that notion rather laughable.
That got me to wondering what folks in other parts of the world pay. Are our prices reasonable comparatively speaking?
I'm directing this mainly to folks who have all the needed resources to produce their own fuel. Having lived in Europe and traveling fairly extensively I understand that there are plenty of countries out there that have to import some if not all of the product and this greatly influences price at the pump.

 

$3.00 - that's great compared to us (~$3.25). If you multiply that over a year's time, it's a good amount of money. And that's just a state away.

But when the world trades fuel on the dollar, I'm interested to see how much their price fluctuates compared to us. We have seasonal prices, but beyond that, it's basically a demand driven price.

Also, I'm curious how many of our members in other countries use seasonal blends like some places in California do.

 

Since you and I leave in the same region, you'll get this...
Every time a hurricane heads towards the gulf, they shut down a rig/platform, which I get. Then the price of gas rises due to the "shortage". The thing is, when production is up and running again, they never lower the prices back.
I totally get and appreciate that our gas prices are a lot better than most of the globe. I paid +$5.00 a gallon when I lived in Spain in the late 80's. It just seems to me that we have a short memory and think that prices have dropped a bit that we consider it good.

 

Back in 2002 when the Euro came, a liter of 98 cost 1,17. Now it costs 1,65 on a good day, 1,73 I believe was the highest I`ve seen.

1,65 x 3,785 = 6,24EUR/gallon =7,87USD/gallon.

Although I believe am not a part of the target group as I believe all our gasoline is imported, or at least manufactured abroad by Finnish companies.

They do put seasonal blend diesel into the tanks of course because of the winter, but IDK do they change the recipe for the gas. At least every time there`s a holiday when everyone`s going somewhere, specially the midsummer eve, the price shoots sky high, and everyone that has half a brain and some extra in their wallet go to fill up all vehicles a few days in advande.

 

Matti, we have exactly the same thing here stateside. You can pretty much bet your paycheck that before any big national holiday that is known for people traveling, the price magically goes up. Where I live we experience the effects of hurricanes, (unfortunately not the ones made by Honda) and when one is getting close I always go fill up my tanks because the price will almost always skyrocket.

The cynical part of me wonders if this whole "cheap gas" news has anything to do with all the elections that are coming up in less than a month.

 

Yup. Got a holiday coming in a week or two? Fill up early and expect to pay more later. Here (Montana) we don't see things like winter storms affecting gas prices. But then, I've never seen a blizzard that comes anywhere close to the severity of a hurricane. One big reason I'm glad to live here.

You aren't being cynical. Politics affecting gas prices are just a fact of life.

 

Oh yeah, and that's even if you can get gas if the storm is bad enough. There can be a run on gas, generators, bottled water, and ice if a storm is predicted to hit us head on. If its supposed to come close, or hit another major city, we can expect to pay more though, even if there isn't a threat on the oil companies platforms or their logistics, which bugs me. C'est la vie, I guess.

Here's a question for our foreign members: How much (percentage wise) of your fuel costs are taxes?

Off topic:
I've been through a couple of hurricanes, and when I lived in Illionois, 2 tornadoes. I'll take hurricanes any day of the week. I can prepare, get my family of town, and make contingencies for them. Whereas in my opinion, tornadoes are a crapshoot.

We had one bad night of tornadoes in NC where I lived. It was unnerving to go to sleep considering the town had no warning system.

 

+1000 on that Conrice. Hurricanes are a walk in the park compared to tornados. Been through enough of both of them myself. Hurricanes are somewhat predictable and if you so choose, you can get out of Dodge. Tornadoes can drop out of the sky with zero warning and unless you live in a concrete bunker you can die in your sleep because something goes through your roof.

 

У нас на АЗС литра 92-й бензин стоит 33 рублей.)))

 

We at the gas station liter 92-octane gasoline costs 33 rubles