How much has gas/petrol price increased?

[sheilasultani]

I got a laugh out of this shot:

[Ingoal]

Oil is subsidized by the govt in many oil-producing countries, i.e. Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Prices are normally not that low even at market rates with no taxes. That's also why mperor's fillup is $6 while everyone else pays 10 times that.

Having the oil-fields in your backyard helps as well I guess

And if you think the oil companies (shell, mobil etc) are making this price rise all up, PLEASE take an economics class and look into their financials because they're not acting as evil as you think. Their profit margin is 10% and their high absolute profits are because of volume/scale. Their profit margin is less than most software companies. And the best way to "stick it to the oil companies" is to not buy from them, fairly simple.

...business is business and everyone squeezes out every cent, dollar, ...and let's be honest, if you had the chance to squeeze out money, you would, too...no doubt about it. As for the sticking it to them...I do...as I drive as little as possible...public transportation baby...until they finally come up with the Mr. Fusion home energy reactor (or a viable alternative)...

[rageh]

Having the oil-fields in your backyard helps as well I guess

Not always. I heard fuel prices in Norway, for example, are among the highest if not the highest in Europe. And let me tell you, they have an ocean of oil. But the consumers are not benefiting from cheap oil prices there.

As regards the environment, the governments have the perfect pretext to levy more so called "green" taxes to boost revenue. Saving the environment should be a collaborative effort among all countries as global warming effects everybody. High fuel taxes in any one country is not helpful in its own. People suffer from high prices while the environment is still being wrecked by other countries.

[Ingoal]

Not always. I heard fuel prices in Norway, for example, are among the highest if not the highest in Europe. And let me tell you, they have an ocean of oil. But the consumers are not benefiting from cheap oil prices there.

Probably the effects of a mixed calculation....

As regards the environment, the governments have the perfect pretext to levy more so called "green" taxes to boost revenue. Saving the environment should be a collaborative effort among all countries as global warming effects everybody. High fuel taxes in any one country is not helpful in its own. People suffer from high prices while the environment is still being wrecked by other countries.

Preach!

[ajos777]

Oil companies here in India are running huge losses. It is estimated that this

financial year if the government doesnt act quickly the oil companies stand

to loose around 700,000 crore rupees, ever since the oil crisis started, the

state run oil companies are running such huge loses.

The taxes on a oil barrel is around 38% Here and thats really hurting the oil companies.

[cosmas]

about $1.35 per litre in Nairobi...keeps on rising though...every 2weeks..damn the market speculators..maybe we should start using renewable energy more..like power alcohol, solar and hydrogen powered cars (can they make one for bumpy roads in Africa?)

[peterlh3]

its increasing to 4 29 per gallon. what is going on ....

[Crazybanana]

Not always. I heard fuel prices in Norway, for example, are among the highest if not the highest in Europe. And let me tell you, they have an ocean of oil. But the consumers are not benefiting from cheap oil prices there.

As regards the environment, the governments have the perfect pretext to levy more so called "green" taxes to boost revenue. Saving the environment should be a collaborative effort among all countries as global warming effects everybody. High fuel taxes in any one country is not helpful in its own. People suffer from high prices while the environment is still being wrecked by other countries.

Yeah, we are drowning in oil

I think we are among the top 3 oil exporting nations, we have many oil fields we still haven't started to drill or pump from and we still have many oil fields to be discovered outside our coastline (at least they believe so)

the gas price here at this very moment is US$ 2.84 litre, which translates to US$ 10.8 a (US) gallon.

last time i tanked i paid US$ 170, if it was empty i would have to pay US$ 228.

the green taxes are of course helping the price raise but everything for the environment and the planet

then we have other taxes, profits and VAT (value added taxes) on the other taxes and profits on top of it.. pretty funny haha

the last weeks people have started to complain, and yes.. the government went out yesterday or the day before to inform us that the green taxes will raise again. lucky i only have two cars

[tke71709]

And if you think the oil companies (shell, mobil etc) are making this price rise all up, PLEASE take an economics class and look into their financials because they're not acting as evil as you think. Their profit margin is 10% and their high absolute profits are because of volume/scale. Their profit margin is less than most software companies. And the best way to "stick it to the oil companies" is to not buy from them, fairly simple.

And costs are ridiculous to explore for and exploit oil.

I was reading an article on deep sea oil drilling and they mentioned that in the last ten years oil companies have spent over a half a trillion dollars on equipment and R&D.

The numbers seem so large when we hear them (just like when banks make a billion dollars a quarter in profits people scream about them gouging us here in Canada but if the headline read "banks make 8% return on their investments" no one would look twice even though the bottom line would be the same).

[rageh]

lucky i only have two cars

You have my sympathy if they are gas guzzling beasts... Well, even if they are not, filling up cars is no fun in this day and age.

I wonder why the idea of hydrogen car is no longer talked about. Building hydrogen filling stations is a massive infrastructure cost nobody is willing to take on. Is that the only reason it is not catching on though?

[Raffles]

Probably, and also because the only feasible way to produce the electricity to produce the hydrogen at the moment would be to burn lots of coal or lots of oil, so in environmental terms it wouldn't be an improvement.

[tanya1177]

It will rise more and more. I can not say that in my country (Belarus) we are paying huge sums for this in contrast to other European countries. !1.10$ per liter for diesel.

[Pixel Inception]

$3.98 a gallon here.

[Pixel Inception]

I got a laugh out of this shot:

I saw that on CNN. Made me laugh.

EDIT: Thats so funny, we have CNN at work right now and a CNN commercial just came on saying, "4 Bucks! Whats Next?"

[tke71709]

I wonder why the idea of hydrogen car is no longer talked about. Building hydrogen filling stations is a massive infrastructure cost nobody is willing to take on. Is that the only reason it is not catching on though?

Nobody is going to buy a hydrogen powered car if there are no fueling stations and no one is going to build fueling stations if there are no hydrogen powered cars.

[rageh]

Nobody is going to buy a hydrogen powered car if there are no fueling stations and no one is going to build fueling stations if there are no hydrogen powered cars.

The perfect catch-22. But seriously the car manufacturing industry will in the end realize that the hunger for having a car, let alone the big gas guzzlers, will decrease correspondingly as gas prices keep going up. Surely, those that pioneer and come up with hydrogen car will make a lot a of money. However they have to convince filling stations to add hydrogen pumping facilities in their garages. It is all about money. If they car manufacturing companies are willing to financially help filling stations towards the cost of installing these facilities, it can happen. It is not far-fetched. But that can be many years away.

[Jake Arkinstall]

I remember seeing some documentry about much more efficient cars being produced in the USA, maxing at over 100mpg. As soon as they came off the production line, before going to sell, the government ordered that it was all scrapped (there was even CCTV footage).

[rageh]

I remember seeing some documentry about much more efficient cars being produced in the USA, maxing at over 100mpg. As soon as they came off the production line, before going to sell, the government ordered that it was all scrapped (there was even CCTV footage).

As vehicles use less fuel on account of being more efficient, tax revenues will be effected. So governments have a reason to be worried. Whether we liked or not, taxation is necessary for all modern societies(I am sounding the mouthpiece of the chancellor ) but not to the degree that they scrap the production of more efficient cars. In other words, if saving the environment is a concern as we are led to believe, more efficiency in energy usage(car fuels, heating and so on) is the answer.

[vgarcia]

The perfect catch-22. But seriously the car manufacturing industry will in the end realize that the hunger for having a car, let alone the big gas guzzlers, will decrease correspondingly as gas prices keep going up.

Yeah you'd think so but no

[Nick]

In Gainesville VA it's $3.85 for regular. Where I work in Chevy Chase MD it's $4.25 for regular.

[ro0bear]

The government wont mind more efficient cars being produced when the cost of petrol threatens the the economy more significantly (e.g. when more and more businesses go bankrupt).

I have done a lot of research on alternaltive energy and oil stocks (in fact came second in a national essay competition on the matter last year (what? cant i boast occasionally?)).
Unfortunately there is no real alternative to oil, there will, sooner or later be a global downturn. Many alternaltive technologies are at least 30 years away from being fully functional on a mass scale, and technologies such as wind turbines produce very little energy and require a huge amount of maintanance. Nuclear power could act as a stepping stone to other power sources, but if the world used nuclear power instead of oil, many many large nuclear power stations would need to be produced, and the worlds uranium would be exhausted after only 20 years (yes that is how much energy we are getting from oil!!!). Power in the future will probably be mainly from the solar energy, wave energy, and using hydroelectric dams.

So, you might expect hot countries to become the richest, as they would have the most concentrated solar energy, and any transportation will be highly expensive.

I think we are in a very ruff ride this centry, Its a real shame there isn't more being done in prep, and that not many people are aware or taking it very seriously.

I wonder how long it will be before people cant afford personal cars?

ro0bear

[rageh]

So, you might expect hot countries to become the richest, as they would have the most concentrated solar energy, and any transportation will be highly expensive.
ro0bear

You are right. Africa and Asia, where solar is plentiful all year round, will be wealthy and Western Europe and North American poorer as the foundation their development is based, i.e. oil is exhausted. If only they can produce solar energy cost-effectively and in abundance. May be the World has no alternative but to look into that more seriously. The days when every research on energy was pooh-poohed on account of oil being inexhaustible and cheap is over.

[silversprite]

It's gone up a lot in just the last 40 days here. Unfortunately, living off the mainland, fuel prices are at a premium. Not sure for definite, but we may very well have the most expensive fuel in Europe, more likely in the UK.

Picture of the local station pumps, with prices, on my blog (silversprite dot com), entry for June 11th 2008.

[SpacePhoenix]

Where I get my petrol it's about £1.15 per litre which works out about $2.254 (USD).

I believe that before tax petrol in the UK is among the cheapest but after tax it is probably the most expensive. We (UK) get taxed on petrol twice - fuel duty and VAT.

[ro0bear]

Where I get my petrol it's about £1.15 per litre which works out about $2.254 (USD).

I believe that before tax petrol in the UK is among the cheapest but after tax it is probably the most expensive. We (UK) get taxed on petrol twice - fuel duty and VAT.

You should see how many times the UK oil companies get taxed for the process of getting oil from the earth to the pumps!
I cant remember every stage but here are some:
1) need a license to look for oil (costs a few million).
2) need a license to drill for oil (a few million).
3) the oil is taxed as its pumped out.
4) the oil is taxed as its refined.
5) the each product of the oil is taxed (e.g. petrol, tar, diesel....)

and I think there are other stages aswell but cant remember all of them, it adds up to many billions of tax revinue. lol, im suprised they havent taxed the tax yet lol.

ro0bear