American gas/petrol prices.

dlofnep

Just reading over a thread about petrol (gas) prices on another forum and I spotted Americans who were extremely angry with the current gas prices there. The average price of gas per US GALLON there is about $3.30(US). Converting currency on the average price of petrol here (sourced from www.pumps.ie), it works out about $7.17(US) a gallon for petrol here, more than twice as much as the US.

What's the problem? If I was getting petrol that cheap, I'd be drinking it! Why are we paying more than twice as much? I understand our economies and currency are very different right now, but still?

Cathmandooo

A US gallon is a different measurement to a UK gallon, did you take that into account?

dlofnep

Cathooo wrote: »

A US gallon is a different measurement to a UK gallon, did you take that into account?

Yes, I calculated both using US gallons, 3.78 litres per gallon. We pay more than twice as much for petrol.

funk-you

Bloody Prius' all round. That'll stop them whining.

-Funk

seamus

The US gets its oil cheap and always has done because of trade agreements and all sorts of other political meddling in the middle east. Not to mention that it has a couple of oilfields of its own.

The EU on the other hand has never toppled any democracies and installed EU-friendly dictators and has very few oilfields of its own.

dlofnep

The US is in an immense amount of debt with the middle-east over the wars they are trying to operate. Do you think all that political meddling is worth it Seamus, or is this a long term gain opposed to a short term?

rossie1977

what seamus said and to add our petrol prices are loaded with government taxes (something the us government don't really do)

US gas prices are 3 times cheaper than prices in the UK and still they complain :rolleyes: http://www.theaa.ie/petrolprices/

the problem is they buy these huge cars that cost mega-bucks and do 6 mpg and expect to pay 50cent per gallon, those days are over, the dollar is so weak its causing oil to increase in value and what currency is oil traded in....dollars

gurramok

It'll all soon change when countries start trading in euros for oil instead of dollars.

Wake-up time for America's cheap oil then!

dlofnep

Yeah, you see - we drive economical cars here.. So it's somewhat manageable to pay the prices we do. I agree with you and brought up that point on the other thread that they drive really uneconomical cars and that their car choices could be better.

Did anyone see that electrical car in the newspaper the other day? Ugly as sin, but it's a step in the right direction. I think that if we continue to use petrol, even in cars that use like petrol and electricity combined, then the petrol tycoons will continue to raise prices, so we'll continue to be paying huge sums, even for small petrol quanities.

If they want the electricity thing to take off, they need to make the cars nicer looking, and easy to access, with longer distances. I think max distance for the car was 80kilometres per charge. Which would make it impossible to drive to another city or whatever.

Sherifu

We need to invade soemwhere with oil.

YeatsCounty

rossie1977 wrote: »

US gas prices are 3 times cheaper than prices in the UK and still they complain :rolleyes:

It's what they're used to! When a price of an "essential" item zooms up in the space of a couple of years, no matter where it happens or how cheap it still is compared to other countries, the local populace are going to grumble. They're not looking overseas to compare gas prices. Those affected see that they have to pay quite a bit more than what they used to have to pay just a short while ago.

Overheal

The secret: I've known this for years, but didn't feel like saying anything. whoops

robinph

seamus wrote: »

The US gets its oil cheap and always has done because of trade agreements and all sorts of other political meddling in the middle east. Not to mention that it has a couple of oilfields of its own.

I think the UK actually gets the cheapest oil before any taxes are applied, possibly not cheaper than the US but certanly the cheapest in the EU. They then have the highest level of taxation applied to it though before you can actually put any of it in your car.

tolosenc

I still don't get why we pay more for bottled water that petrol, yet everyone is worried about the petrol...

WooPeeA

It has always been like that. Petrol prices in Europe are the highest in the world. It's not news. Arabic countries are making mountains of money on us.

Why is it like that? The fault is the government. Huge taxes, VAT, huge income tax and excise tax.. In many countries taxes are more than 50% of price.

But that's not all..

There's also many agents, dealers and intermediary. It's very complicated process to import oil to Europe. And all of them wants to earn some money.


Let me give you the example of country with no taxes on oil, the United Arabian Emirates.
What's the price? That was about 25 cents / Liter last year. In Saudi Arabia it's 12 cent.

Now you can see how much of taxes we have to pay in Europe.

challengemaster

We pay twice as much for everything.. so why not gas/petrol too? I mean why complain about just one thing, when everything is way overpriced.. huh?

robinph

robinph wrote: »

I think the UK actually gets the cheapest oil before any taxes are applied, possibly not cheaper than the US but certanly the cheapest in the EU. They then have the highest level of taxation applied to it though before you can actually put any of it in your car.

A significant amount of it comes from the North sea, unfortunately these oil fields are now rapidly approaching the end of their life using current extraction methods.

Oil prices have been relativly stable in recent months when compared to the euro.

Kernel32

You also have to keep in mind that the price of petrol in the states has increased much more rapidly that in europe over the last 8 to 10 years. This is a difficult thing for any economy to absorb and it takes time. 7 or 8 years ago I was paying 99cents a gallon, now I pay around $3.50 a gallon. So the price has more than tripled in that timeframe. The country is still coming to grips with that reality. Smaller calls and in particular hybrids are becoming popular. I see way more hybrids on the roads in the states than I see in Ireland.

Altreab

gurramok wrote: »

It'll all soon change when countries start trading in euros for oil instead of dollars.

It already happened.....Saddam was selling oil denominated in Euro for 6 months before the USA invaded. Within a week of the USA taking control of Iraq they started selling oil in US Dollars again. Overnight the foreign currency reserves of Iraq dropped 10% in value as they were at that stage mainly denominated in Euro. Many would say that it was the decision to sell in Euro rather than US Dollars that was the final straw for the USA.
Thats why Venezuela is so much in the USA bad boy books. They are bartering oil for goods at a small level with their neighbours.If that idea catches on then the US Dollar will crash in Value.
Iran was talking about setting up a oil trading borse in 2006. However it was during this period that the USA rhetoric about Iranians developing nuclear weapons really started. The unspoken threat was that it would be used as an excuse to invade Iran if the bourse went ahead. To date the bourse hasnt gone ahead but the concept is there for iran and other oil producing countries.
A much more elegant explanation of what im trying to explain can be found here

Capt'n Midnight

seamus wrote: »

The US gets its oil cheap and always has done because of trade agreements and all sorts of other political meddling in the middle east. Not to mention that it has a couple of oilfields of its own.

The EU on the other hand has never toppled any democracies and installed EU-friendly dictators and has very few oilfields of its own.

Of course the real reason for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam was setting up an oil market that traded in Euros rather than Dollars

Allegedley.

Cianos

The average American is far more dependant on their car than the average European. For some reason.

Tha Gopher

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Of course the real reason for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam was setting up an oil market that traded in Euros rather than Dollars

Allegedley.

So why did Blair play along? The UK will have the Euro eventually.

*puts on republican hat*

I hope they recycle all the notes with the queens face on em as toilet roll, raaaa..........

Ive always wondered how regular Joes in poorer countries afford fuel. Its not as if in the Mid East they are saying "we will charge the Irish x price but the Polish y price" surely?

utick

Anyone know why even small american cars only get 30-35 mpg, while in europe 50 mpg is the norm.
ive heard various ideas on why this is, from the amercian gallon being a different size, to cars have stricter emisions standards then europe which reduces mpg, and also the gas/petrol being a higher grade in europe.

anyone know why? this has been bugging me for some time

Peteee

utick wrote: »

Anyone know why even small american cars only get 30-35 mpg, while in europe 50 mpg is the norm.
ive heard various ideas on why this is, from the amercian gallon being a different size, to cars have stricter emisions standards then europe which reduces mpg, and also the gas/petrol being a higher grade in europe.

anyone know why? this has been bugging me for some time

American cars are crap in this regard as compared to european/japanese cars, though this is slowly changing as american manufacturers (Ford, GM etc) are getting whipped, and need to change to remain competitive. The US also doesn't have as strict mpg/emissions laws as the EU.

Cianos wrote: »

The average American is far more dependant on their car than the average European. For some reason.

84,412 km² - Ireland
9,826,630 km² - America

seamus wrote: »

The US gets its oil cheap and always has done because of trade agreements and all sorts of other political meddling in the middle east. Not to mention that it has a couple of oilfields of its own.

The EU on the other hand has never toppled any democracies and installed EU-friendly dictators and has very few oilfields of its own.

Yes, political meddling. It has nothing to do with taxes or anything :rolleyes: If you were being sarcastic, all well and good!

utick

Peteee wrote: »

American cars are crap in this regard as compared to european/japanese cars, though this is slowly changing as american manufacturers (Ford, GM etc) are getting whipped, and need to change to remain competitive. The US also doesn't have as strict mpg/emissions laws as the EU.

but even the foreign imports in america have crappy gsa mileage so there must be something else

PaulKK

Their petrol is crappy, i think its 87 or 92RON or something rather than our 95 and japans 100, so i dont think theirs is as efficent.

RON is the octane level btw.

Senna

utick wrote: »

Anyone know why even small american cars only get 30-35 mpg, while in europe 50 mpg is the norm.
ive heard various ideas on why this is, from the amercian gallon being a different size, to cars have stricter emisions standards then europe which reduces mpg, and also the gas/petrol being a higher grade in europe.

anyone know why? this has been bugging me for some time

even their small cars have bigger engines, anything less than 2ltr would be un-heard of. Plus nearly all cars are auto's so even less mpg from them.

Spaceman Spiff

obl wrote: »

I still don't get why we pay more for bottled water that petrol, yet everyone is worried about the petrol...

IRLConor

utick wrote: »

Anyone know why even small american cars only get 30-35 mpg, while in europe 50 mpg is the norm.
ive heard various ideas on why this is, from the amercian gallon being a different size, to cars have stricter emisions standards then europe which reduces mpg, and also the gas/petrol being a higher grade in europe.

anyone know why? this has been bugging me for some time

I suspect a large part of it is the gallon size.

35mpg in the US is ~42mpg over here. You get about 20% better mileage just by changing the size of your gallon.

You should be easily able to scrape another 8mpg out of:

• Different fuel blend.
• Manual transmission (although modern autos aren't half as bad I'm told)
• Not comparing like-with-like, how many <1.6l engines are there on the roads in the USA?

Black Swan

Former oil man George Bush will keep the war going in Iraq so long as he is president, in order to strangle the oil supply from the world's 5th leading producer. This artificial scarcity has resulted in American oil corporations declaring the highest profits in their history... The same oil corporations that contributed millions to the past two Bush elections (channeled through PACs... political action committees, to get around campaign funding limits). If McCain wins the presidency near the end of this year, the war will continue, as will historic oil corporation profits (for as long as he is in office). McCain is a Bush clone (and one of the lizard people ).

Manic Moran

<sigh>

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...

Yes, we're a lot more dependent on personal vehicles around here. The country is just too spread out to have any reliance on public transport outside of the major metropoli. Where I'm living in the Bay Area, it is not considered particularly remarkable when people drive 60-80 miles each way to commute. If you happen to live on a rail line, you're fine. If not... you're driving. I'm currently in Kentucky for a few months for school, it took 130 gallons to get here. You can travel up and down the length of Ireland more than a few times for that. Hell, just getting across Wyoming was over 20 gallons, and there's nothing in the State.

Nothing 'weird' happens to imported cars when they get here. An Audi A4 2.0l gets pretty much the same mileage in the US as it does in Germany. 37mpUSG highway for a 1.8L Corolla is pretty reasonable, I think. Ditto various hybrids. Those have their own problems. Firstly, the price of a hybrid (particuarly repairs) are such that unless you don't do much long-haul stuff, it's just not worth it and many people won't buy them for that reason (They suck at long distance, are better in cities). Another problem is that the larger, progressive, eco-friendly States don't currently allow diesels: They think they're too polluting. California is one of them. We can appreciate cars like the Golf TDI, but can't buy the things, regardless of the extra mileage they provide. The plan is that diesels will be permitted some time later this, or next year. I have absolutely no doubt that when this happens, sales of Prius and such will shoot down (Horrid vehicles), Golfs will shoot up, and good portion of sales of imports will be diesels.