Think you pay a lot for gas? Perhaps you'd prefer to live in Venezuela.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Gasoline prices in the United States, which have recently hit record highs, are actually much lower than in many countries. Drivers in some European cities, like Amsterdam and Oslo, are paying nearly 3 times more than those in the U.S.

The main factor in price disparities between countries is government policy, according to AirInc, a company that tracks the cost of living in various places around the world. Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, said a spokesperson for AirInc.

In a few Latin America and Middle-East nations, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, oil is produced by a government-owned company and local gasoline prices are kept low as a benefit to the nation's citizens, he said. All prices updated March, 2005.

Nation City Price in USD Regular/Gallon
Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48
Norway Oslo $6.27
Italy Milan $5.96
Denmark Copenhagen $5.93
Belgium Brussels $5.91
Sweden Stockholm $5.80
United Kingdom London $5.79
Germany Frankfurt $5.57
France Paris $5.54
Portugal Lisbon $5.35
Hungary Budapest $4.94
Luxembourg $4.82
Croatia Zagreb $4.81
Ireland Dublin $4.78
Switzerland Geneva $4.74
Spain Madrid $4.55
Japan Tokyo $4.24
Czech Republic Prague $4.19
Romania Bucharest $4.09
Andorra $4.08
Estonia Tallinn $3.62
Bulgaria Sofia $3.52
Brazil Brasilia $3.12
Cuba Havana $3.03
Taiwan Taipei $2.84
Lebanon Beirut $2.63
South Africa Johannesburg $2.62
Nicaragua Managua $2.61
Panama Panama City $2.19
Russia Moscow $2.10
Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74
Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91
Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78
Egypt Cairo $0.65
Nigeria Lagos $0.38
Venezuela Caracas $0.12

Source: air-inc.com

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/

In the May 2004 survey, Hong Kong was 2nd at $5.62. Hong Kong gas prices are regulated by the government. Prices do not fluctuate daily, and gas companies must notify the government for changes.

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/price.html

Gas prices in the GTA are probably averaging around $2.40 US/Gallon or 80cents CDN/litre.

wow, and we southern californians complain when the gas goes over 2.50! i fell guilty now, haha

But your cars use alot more fuel, so it costs you alot more... so its OK, you can understand why you all whinge alot more...

Oh wait no it isnt.


Sorry about that, that was a poor swipe :P Not directed at you, just a comment in general.

You guys are lucky that you can get your cars running on gas. I think its much better than petrol as its cleaner and safer for the ozone layer. Gas cars are still hard to find here in Europe as most run on petrol or diesel.

Im quite sure that "gas" is just an american term for Petrol. I think they all do use unleaded petrol.

But your cars use alot more fuel, so it costs you alot more... so its OK, you can understand why you all whinge alot more...
But the reason why european cars don't use as much fuel is partly because of the high gas prices. I advocate taxing the hell out of gas here too, maybe people would stop driving all these gas guzzling SUV's. Can a city tax gas btw? If so I'd like the city to tax gas so it'll cost $6 / gallon here, if people must drive, they should drive fuel efficient cars, and it's not like they have to drive in nyc unless their jobs require it. (in which case the company would probably pay for the gas)

Im quite sure that "gas" is just an american term for Petrol. I think they all do use unleaded petrol.

It is the American word for Petrol.

Gasolina is the Spanish word, maybe they get it from that?

quite true. In America the word "gas" almost always means gasoline or petrol as what the brits would call it.

Americans use the term "natural gas" to mean gas.

and BTW I've never heard anyone in America use the word "petro" before. :)

Exactly... thats what im pointing at. I was trying to satirise the "percieved" american mentality, of the right to own a big car. Fuel efficiency is my number one factor in choosing my cars, and i live in Australia, where fuel is about $1.10/litre - not THAT expensive. Even living how i do, i use public transport and walk as much as possible.

I also believe in cranking up the price of petrol, mainly with the motivation to be reducing vehicle size, with the main factor being environmental concerns. I think it is very arrogant and rude to think that you have the right to drive a down right in-efficient car, as we know that it is everyones air & everyones problem. Sure people have to drive, but it is like throwing away a finite resource. I'm sure we will be wishing that we all drove Toyota Echo's when oil supply cant keep up with demand (as it is showing signs of doing), and the resource becomes ever more scarce.

Well...maybe if gasoline cost 6.48 in America, you would see more americans with small cars (or no car at all). In fact, I have no doubt that would be the case. Hell, just the recent rise in price to around 2.50 has caused a lot of people in southern cali to consider their options (though mass transit hasnt built up quite enough yet to be favorable). I do think that the largest amount of sales of hybrid cars are in california where gas is especially expensive (by american standards).

Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48
I would like to thank the government for this. It's time to lower those taxes because everbody complains about it.

I thought it was bad n Britain, but the Netherlands make our fuel look quite cheap...still i think its wrong that it cost my parents nearly £60 ($110) to fill their cars.

Personally, I think it's a good thing that fuel is so expensive in Europe. Europe is a very dense place (well, Western Europe anyway) If people drove as much as they did in the U.S. and with such gas-guzzling cars, the pollution here would be horrific.

The high prices do seem excessive, but they forced the sales of more fuel efficient cars, which does offset the price somewhat. The size of cars in Europe is generally smaller as well, which offsets this price even further, so although the cost of driving between A and B is still more expensive in Europe, it is not as bad as the table above may suggest.

That said, that higher price does keep traffic levels a bit lower. With the density of the cities in Europe, and narrower roads, this is of enormous benifit, and of cause the benifit of less pollution as I already mentioned.

Hope on a Vespa, that's perfect for getting around a European city.

over here its around a dollar a litre (how many litres to a gallon?)

venezuala is, well, just a bit silly

Do you guys realize the consequences of indiscriminately "cranking up" the price of gas? Yeah, that's lovely that you don't drive vehicles. But, small businesses will be crushed and if gas prices are increased 100% ("$6/gallon"!??!!?) think of how much that is going to increase the cost of consumption goods- businesses won't hesitate to pass on the costs. Our entire economy is dependent on gas.

Say goodbye to cheap everything if you interfere with the market price of gas rather than letting supply and demand take care of it.

over here its around a dollar a litre (how many litres to a gallon?)

venezuala is, well, just a bit silly
3.785 litres to a U.S gallon.

Do you guys realize the consequences of indiscriminately "cranking up" the price of gas? Yeah, that's lovely that you don't drive vehicles. But, small businesses will be crushed and if gas prices are increased 100% ("$6/gallon"!??!!?) think of how much that is going to increase the cost of consumption goods- businesses won't hesitate to pass on the costs. Our entire economy is dependent on gas.

Say goodbye to cheap everything if you interfere with the market price of gas rather than letting supply and demand take care of it.

who is interfering with the market price? the government is just setting taxes, the companies can sell it at what they want

or do you mean government interference like negotiating with middle-eastern countries and other oil-rich nations to supply cheap oil to you instead of arms and protection?

***

who is interfering with the market price? the government is just setting taxes, the companies can sell it at what they want

or do you mean government interference like negotiating with middle-eastern countries and other oil-rich nations to supply cheap oil to you instead of arms and protection?
I mean interfering as in "cranking up the price of gas". Whether that is done by the companies raising gas prices or the government excessively taxing it, it doesn't matter. The point is, is that if gas prices rise substantially over a short period of time at the pumps, it could cripple the economy. Everything we buy has it's cost somewhat determined by gas. If it was raised to say, $6/gallon as someone suggested, costs of everything would go up. Why? Because everything we buy is shipped and transported via gas operated machinery. Companies will not be able to absorb such substantial price increases. Prices will become inflated.

However high petrol prices can be good when the price of oil rises because the government can reduce tax and make the change affect the consumer less.

If fuel prices is still bubbles until people can't afford and lost their car and job then it can be burst. Commute to job without public transportation is important on fuel because metro bus is full of crap. Some cities has limited subway distance that cannot go through to suburb. High fuel or even petrol is full of bullshit. It's Bush and other counries government's fault to create more expensive fuel or petrol. I wondered that cannot blame on Middle Eastern but it pretty has plenty of oil in Arab countries.

In Venezuela, you can purchase Dodge Viper for commute to job or run around city. :D

1,25$ in Israel

Whaaaaa.....!!
Well excuse me, but $0.12 USD for 3.785 litres of petrol in Caracas, Venezuela?

Holy smokes, that is CHEAP! I'm moving to Venezuela.

Diesel-1.07$per litre

1,25$ in Israel

Which is gallon or litre?

Im quite sure that "gas" is just an american term for Petrol. I think they all do use unleaded petrol.

correct, haha

Homegrown Fuel Supply Helps Brazil Breathe Easy
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer


SAO PAULO, Brazil — While Americans fume at high gasoline prices, Carolina Rossini is the essence of Brazilian cool at the pump.

Like tens of thousands of her countrymen, she is running her zippy red Fiat on pure ethanol extracted from Brazilian sugar cane. On a recent morning in Brazil's largest city, the clear liquid was selling for less than half the price of gasoline, a sweet deal for the 26-year-old lawyer.

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"You save money and you don't pollute as much," said Rossini, who paid about $18 to fill her nearly empty tank. "And it's a good thing that the product is made here."

Three decades after the first oil shock rocked its economy, Brazil has nearly shaken its dependence on foreign oil. More vulnerable than even the United States when the 1973 Middle East oil embargo sent gas prices soaring, Brazil vowed to kick its import habit. Now the country that once relied on outsiders to supply 80% of its crude is projected to be self-sufficient within a few years.

Developing its own oil reserves was crucial to Brazil's long-term strategy. Its domestic petroleum production has increased sevenfold since 1980. But the Western Hemisphere's second-largest economy also has embraced renewable energy with a vengeance.

Today about 40% of all the fuel that Brazilians pump into their vehicles is ethanol, known here as alcohol, compared with about 3% in the United States. No other nation is using ethanol on such a vast scale. The change wasn't easy or cheap. But 30 years later, Brazil is reaping the return on its investment in energy security while the U.S. writes checks for $50-a-barrel foreign oil.

"Brazil showed it can be done, but it takes commitment and leadership," said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. In the U.S. "we're paying the highest prices at the pump since 1981, and we are sending over $100 billion overseas a year to import oil instead of keeping that money in the United States…. Clearly Brazil has something to teach us."

Much of Brazil's ethanol usage stems from a government mandate requiring all gasoline to contain 25% alcohol. Vehicles that ran solely on ethanol fell out of favor here in the 1990s because of an alcohol shortage that pushed drivers back to gas-powered cars. But thanks to a new generation of vehicles that can run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of those two fuels, more motorists like Rossini are filling up with 100% alcohol again to beat high gas prices.

The exploding popularity of these so-called flex-fuel vehicles is reverberating across Brazil's farming sector. Private investors are channeling billions of dollars into sugar and alcohol production, creating much-needed jobs in the countryside. Environmentalists support the expansion of this clean, renewable fuel that has helped improve air quality in Brazil's cities. Consumers are tickled to have a choice at the filling station.

Officials from other nations are flocking to Brazil to examine its methods. Most will find Brazil's sugar-fuel strategy impossible to replicate. Few countries possess the acreage and climate needed to produce sugar cane in gargantuan quantities, much less the infrastructure to get it to the pump.

Still, some Brazilians said their government's commitment to ditching imports and to jump-starting homegrown energy industries were the real keys to Brazil's success.

"It's a combination of strong public policy and the free market," said Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of a federal energy research agency based in Rio de Janeiro. "That's the Brazilian secret."

Brazil's fortunes have been tied to sugar since the Portuguese conquerors found that their tropical colony boasted ideal conditions for cultivating the tall, grassy plant. Brazilians produce and eat more cane sugar than any people on the planet, so the notion of using it to power their vehicles was a natural. After all, Henry Ford once viewed ethanol, which can be made from corn, barley and other crops, as a strong contender to fuel the Model T.

But the discovery of cheap, abundant petroleum changed everything. Like much of the rest of the world, Brazil guzzled imported crude until the 1970s oil shocks put its economy over a barrel. So totally reliant was Brazil on foreign oil that surging prices wreaked havoc on its balance of trade. That led to massive borrowing, huge deficits and, eventually, hyperinflation and a devaluation of its currency.

Thus the Brazilian government, then a military dictatorship, launched efforts in the mid-1970s to wean the nation off imports. Those efforts included its National Alcohol Program, known as Proalcool.

"To become less dependent was a matter of life and death," said Jose Goldemberg, secretary of the environment for the state of Sao Paulo.

With the help of public subsidies and tax breaks, farmers planted more sugar cane, investors built distilleries to convert the crop to ethanol and automakers designed cars to run on 100% alcohol. The government financed a mammoth distribution network to get the fuel to gas stations and kept alcohol prices low to entice consumers. It worked. By the mid-1980s, virtually all new cars sold in Brazil ran exclusively on ethanol.

But a 1989 shortage coupled with low gas prices soured many on the renewable fuel. Sales of alcohol-only cars tumbled in the 1990s, and the government gradually withdrew its subsidies and lifted price controls on ethanol. Demand stalled.

Some critics at the time chalked it up to the inevitable consequences of government meddling. But today many laud Brazil's Proalcool program for creating a viable domestic market for ethanol, and for spawning an industry with tremendous export potential that now employs more than 1 million Brazilians.

Meanwhile, ethanol remains little more than a boutique fuel in the United States. Although the U.S. is the world's second-largest ethanol maker, producing 3.4 billion gallons last year compared with around 4 billion gallons for Brazil, ethanol's main use is as a gasoline oxygenate to boost air quality rather than as a serious replacement for foreign oil. However, high gas prices have some farm belt legislators pushing Congress to mandate greater use of domestic corn-based ethanol in the nation's fuel supply to reduce oil consumption.

Virtually all cars sold in the U.S. since the early 1980s can run on gasoline containing as much as 10% ethanol. In addition, there are an estimated 5 million flex-fuel vehicles already on U.S. roads that can burn a mixture as high as 85% ethanol. But big logistical and political hurdles remain. Only a few hundred of the nation's approximately 169,000 retail gas stations are equipped to sell so-called E85 fuel. Nationwide distribution would require station owners to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in special tanks and pumps.

Although U.S. ethanol makers say they could easily double their output to meet any increase in demand, experts say that's still a drop in the bucket compared with the tens of billions of gallons that would be needed annually to displace meaningful amounts of oil. The U.S. industry is loath to give up tariffs that protect it from cheaper alcohol from Brazil.

Meanwhile, some environmentalists say feedstock such as grasses and municipal waste offer much more promise than corn. But huge investments in research are needed to get the costs down for this so-called cellulosic ethanol.

What most can agree on is that Brazil is an example of what might have been if America had seriously committed itself 30 years ago to renewable energy.

"If we would have spent one-hundredth of the money that we have spent to send tanks around the world to protect our oil supplies … we would already be using cellulosic ethanol," said Michael Bryan, chief executive of BBI International, a Colorado-based bio-fuels consulting company.

Although public support was crucial in getting Brazil's program up and running, the private sector is now driving growth with flex-fuel cars.

At Volkswagen's sprawling Anchieta plant near Sao Paulo, the gleaming Fox and Polo models inching down the assembly line look just like regular cars. The only immediate clue that they are revolutionizing the Brazilian auto market is the TotalFlex logos on their back windshields.

The company was the first to unveil dual-fuel vehicles in Brazil in March 2003. The technology has proven to be such a hit with consumers that in a little more than two years the company has shifted nearly 90% of its domestic production to flex-fuel capability.

"It was a big bang in the market," Volkswagen spokeswoman Junia Nogueira de Sa said.

Equipped with a single fuel system, these vehicles employ sensors that allow the engine to adjust to gasoline and alcohol in any combination. Flex-fuel vehicles don't cost any more than regular gasoline-powered models. The only visible difference under the hood is a tiny auxiliary fuel tank that holds a bit of gasoline to aid starting on cold days, a common problem with the old alcohol-only models.

Today, a half dozen carmakers, including General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., offer dual-fuel versions of their vehicles in Brazil, and more are on the way. Consumers bought around 48,000 of the vehicles the first year they were available in 2003, representing about 4% of total car sales. That figure quickly jumped to 328,000 cars, or 22% of the total volume, in 2004, and last month nearly half of the new cars sold were flex vehicles. Analysts predict that dual-fuel technology will easily dominate the market within a few years.

Cars aren't the only things being powered by ethanol in Brazil. Small planes such as crop-dusters are converting to alcohol. And Brazil's electrical grid, which experienced a severe shortage in 2001 because of a drought in its vital hydroelectric sector, is getting a charge from sugar.

In contrast to U.S. corn-based ethanol, which requires substantial amounts of fossil fuel to plant, harvest and distill, Brazil's industry uses crushed sugar cane stalks known as bagasse to feed the steam boilers that power its mills and distilleries. The process is environmentally friendly and so efficient that these centers are generating more energy than they can use. Ethanol producers are supplying Brazil's grid with more than 600 megawatts of electricity. The near-term potential is at least 10 times that.

Near the city of Ribeirao Preto in northeastern Sao Paulo state, the harvest is underway in Brazil's richest sugar-cane-producing region. Trucks lumbering under mounds of fresh-cut cane creep into Jardest Sugar & Alcohol. The vast milling and distilling complex, owned by Brazilian sugar trading giant Crystalsev, will run 24 hours a day nonstop until the season ends in December. The air is fetid with char from the fires that are clearing the fields of debris and vermin in preparation for the arrival of teams of scythe-wielding cutters. A lush emerald sea of cane rolls toward the horizon in every direction.

And there is a lot more where that came from. Brazil has about 13.5 million acres planted with sugar cane. More than 200 million dormant acres lie ready to cultivate.

"Oil is running out. The world needs more clean, renewable fuel," Crystalsev executive Maurilio Biagi Filho said. "And we are going to be there to supply it."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times correspondent Reed Johnson contributed to this report.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Top producers

2004 ethanol production

(In billions of gallons)

Brazil: 4

United States: 3.4

China: 1

India: 0.5

France: 0.2

Sources: F.O. Licht, Renewable Fuels Assn.

Los Angeles Times

Do you guys realize the consequences of indiscriminately "cranking up" the price of gas? Yeah, that's lovely that you don't drive vehicles. But, small businesses will be crushed and if gas prices are increased 100% ("$6/gallon"!??!!?) think of how much that is going to increase the cost of consumption goods- businesses won't hesitate to pass on the costs. Our entire economy is dependent on gas.

Say goodbye to cheap everything if you interfere with the market price of gas rather than letting supply and demand take care of it.

But that's one of the main flaws of the capitalist system. On its own the market is unable to efficiently allocate resources because it takes no account of costs and benefits to third parties, only to the buyer and seller, therefore the government taxing things that are bad for the environment, public health etc is correcting something that the market cannot do.

If you leave the market to decide the price you will get overconsumption of petrol and too much damage to the environment and congestion.

If the price of petrol rises then as you say it will become more expensive to transport stuff thousands of miles, people will look for products sourced closer to home, they will increasingly take public transport where available.

Of course the government will also have a lot more money from the fuel taxes enabling it to cut other taxes, income tax, sales tax whatever they want which will stimulate demand mitigating the economic effect of the higher petrol prices.

After all the economies of the Netherlands, UK, France etc haven't collapsed because of these high petrol prices, their GDP per capita is not much different to that of Canada and much higher than Venezuela.

I would like to see the government raise more of its revenue by taxing things which are bad for society and the environment and move away from taxing things which should be encouraged like employment, investing etc.

British gallon is bigger than a US gallon by the way.

British gallon=4.54 litres
US gallon=3.78 litres

Just thought I'd let you know.

Does anyone else see a certain pattern in all these comparisson threads?

Do you guys realize the consequences of indiscriminately "cranking up" the price of gas? Yeah, that's lovely that you don't drive vehicles. But, small businesses will be crushed and if gas prices are increased 100% ("$6/gallon"!??!!?) think of how much that is going to increase the cost of consumption goods- businesses won't hesitate to pass on the costs. Our entire economy is dependent on gas.

Say goodbye to cheap everything if you interfere with the market price of gas rather than letting supply and demand take care of it.
Look how dense Europe is compared to the US. 10 times as many people per square mile live in Britain compared with the US. Our cities are denser by enlarge, os less transportation costs anyway. Petrol is realtively insignificant compared to wages anyway. And if you tax petrol you don't tax profits as much. You are aware that if gas wasn't taxed they'd have to tax something else, like income - os less money to buy stuff anyway.

This way reduces the urge to drive long distances and get on a train or bus or god forbid walk!

Why can't I type "so" in the right order :bash:

quite true. In America the word "gas" almost always means gasoline or petrol as what the brits would call it.

Americans use the term "natural gas" to mean gas.

and BTW I've never heard anyone in America use the word "petro" before. :)
i think the way the brits pronounce it is right it isnt a gas it is liquid petrolium.

i think the way the brits pronounce it is right it isnt gas it is liquid pertrolium.

But it isn't Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is something different altogether and is becoming increasingly popular in the UK as road fuel because it is about 45p per litre instead of 85p for petrol.

Why can't I type "so" in the right order :bash:

Why can't you click the 'edit' button? :)

venezuela prices look so unrealistic, the plane tickets there are just too much, considering the price of fuel there