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Petrol/gasoline prices

After just filling up my car with fuel today I was thinking how expensive it is here in the UK.


1 litre of unleaded cost me £1.36. So an English Gallon (4.54 ltr) costs £6.17. ( $10.21)


As an American gallon is smaller 3.78ltr. A US gallon here in the UK would cost £5.14 ($8.50)


Luckily our Fiat 500 does over 50 miles to the gallon!


Is it Just rip off Britain or is it the same worldwide??

 
I buy diesel. Is around $1.60 a litre here at the moment.
We SHOULD be paying around .60 cents a litre maximum as Australia produces more than enough fuel for itself.
Enter politics. Bastards.
 
They screw us and smile. What can you do? Nothing..they know it. I cycle when I can, I'm not sticking it to the man but I'm looking after my own wallet. I think revolution is still a fair way off, I mean, people still actually give a shit about a royal wedding.
 
You know damn well that SOMEONE has come up with the technology for solar-powered vehicles. Will they sell to the public? Nope. I'm sure the oil companies bought out that technology and are keeping it quiet. That way they can make all the money they want. They actually have hydrogen-powered technology. A gentleman in south Texas came up with the technology is a older green Ford Escort station wagon. He claimed to get over 400 miles per gallon. The military bought the technology from him and are now installing this technology in the Humvees overseas. Tell me THAT wouldn't change the automobile industry!
 
You know damn well that SOMEONE has come up with the technology for solar-powered vehicles. Will they sell to the public? Nope. I'm sure the oil companies bought out that technology and are keeping it quiet. That way they can make all the money they want. They actually have hydrogen-powered technology. A gentleman in south Texas came up with the technology is a older green Ford Escort station wagon. He claimed to get over 400 miles per gallon. The military bought the technology from him and are now installing this technology in the Humvees overseas. Tell me THAT wouldn't change the automobile industry!

H2O. I built a 6-pack for my gas guzzler Ford F250. Got me up from about 10 mpg up to about 14 mpg. I do know in that make and model its not as affective. Still wanting to do it to my 2006 Ford focus to see what it will do. Have had fun with it a few times. At work we blew the top of a plastic coffee cup to pieces :)
 
Although I'd love to entertain the prospect of a solar powered car, the idea that the technology has been around for biofuels just pisses me off whenever I think about it. During the petroleum shortages of WWII, the Germans were using ethanol and methanol for transportation fuel. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying use crops for fuel (stupidest thing the Bush admin did by the way), I'm suggesting the use of other alternatives. Cellulosic ethanol (wood, sugar cane husks, grass) can be used where appropriate, biogas from landfills, hydrogen gas, etc. Oil was easy, convenient and readily available so we dedicated our ENTIRE infrastructure to its use. The issue here is diversification. There can't be a single "silver bullet" fuel for our future.
 
Its high here too in Canada. About a 1.37 per litre. Its worst in other parts of Canada at about 1.50 but the cost of living is lower. They find any excuse to raise gasoline prices and fill the pockets of investors. And the government here doesnt do anything because they make tons of money off the taxes...Now food prices go up and people are strugling to feed families. Now they want to raise interest rates again. Unbeleivable!
 
i just filled up my tank with unleaded petrol today morning. 43 liters and it cost me abt RM 81.70. thats abt US$27.24.
 
I worked in so-called "alternative/renewable energy" for ten years. Wind energy, to be exact. Manufacturing of small wind turbines. I hate to break this to everyone, but guess what? There is NO alternative energy. Wind energy doesn't work small-scale and doesn't "translate" to the grid large-scale. Solar is impractical large-scale and panels require fossil fuels to manufacture. You all saw what happened in Japan. See, one bad nuclear reactor accident is worse than a nuclear weapon explosion. Back to wind energy, it's a farce and a field inhabited by hucksters fattening themselves on government grants to produce a wind turbine that will never produce the energy that went into building it. I saw this from the ground up in the industry. So, guess what, folks? There is NO drop-in replacement for fossil fuels. Sorry. Not unless you want to run the risk of a nuclear accident every ten years or so. Don't forget, radiation interferes with human DNA and reproduction.

Now, in the U.S., we act all surprised and shocked by high gas prices. And maybe people in their 20s are. But those of us with a few decades can remember the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo which is what gave fuel-efficient Japanese cars their first real popularity in the U.S. Because the U.S was building these 9 MPG gas-guzzling land yachts and couldn't adapt. Yes, the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo should have been a wake-up call for the U.S. But it wasn't. We built a house of cards and were determined to keep living in it. Well, then came the 1979 Gas Crisis, spraked by the Iran Hostage Crisis. For those too young to remember this charming interlude in American history, we had "Even-Odd Days" where on one day, those with license plate numbers ending with an even number could buy gas, and then the next day, only those with odd numbers could buy gas. This was another funny American affectation of refusing to call something what it is (rationing)because it doesn't sound nice or sounds scary. There were also days when a green flag meant the gas station had gas and red flags meant they had none. And the national speed limit on the interstates was 55 MPH. Now, considering this was six years after the 1973 Embargo, you would think a nation with the alleged "Yankee ingenuity" of the U.S. would have had a great fuel-efficient car by that time. But, no, what we did was roll out clunkers like the AMC Pacer and the Gremlin or deathtraps like the Ford Pinto which should have been named the Ford Napalm Canister. But after the 1979 Oil Crisis went away, people developed collective amnesia.

Now, you would think that after two oil crises in a decade, the U.S. would have thought, "Hmmm.... we import a lot of our oil from a very volatile region. Perhaps we better start thinking about public transportation, improving our railroads, and not 'Next-Day-Airing' everything instead of stocking parts rooms. Perhaps we better start thinking of more fuel-efficient cars." But, no, instead we started building SUVs the size of a Sherman tank and hauling around trailers the size of a Blue Whale. Yep, that's really roughing it, let me tell ya----go camping in a trailer with a waterbed. Suddenly, I'm seeing people driving Humvees. WTF??? I was in the army when the last of the jeeps went away. Jeeps were a great vehicle. They could go anywhere on a four-banger engine. The Humvee is a POS. Sorry. But now, every civilian needed a Humvee. What for?? And I'd see them all cherried out and chrmoed and SUVs lowered to the ground. All getting 9 MPG; maybe 12 MPG. People driving pickup trucks bigger than the panzers the Wehrmacht conquered most of Europe with. All getting 10 MPG. And for what? To look cool? Shiny pickups that never saw a bale of hay in the back or a speck of mud on the tires.

We've had several decades to get up to speed and we squandered it. The writing was always there on the wall since 1973. But no one wanted to listen. No one wanted to heed the warning. No one wanted to face reality. Everyone wanted to live like the bill would never arrive. Now we hear all this malarky about "vast American oil reserves". Well, there aren't. They're talking about oil shale. No one has figured out a way to extract the oil from shale. And even if there were reserves, are we going to use it wisely to wean ourselves off oil? No, of course not. We'd just fill up more 9 MPG trucks with tires the size of a John Deere tractor and, once again, act like the bill will never come.

So, these oil prices should come as no shock to anyone. They've always been there. They come every decade. And you haven't heard the punchline yet. See, because we have spent zero real effort into getting ourselves off oil, when it starts running out, we'll see the first of famines the likes of which the world has never seen. That's because our agriculture runs on oil. Transport of food, growing food, tilling the soil----all fossil fuel reliant. As I said, there is NO "secret technology" just waiting in the wings. They say that to keep the masses pacified that everything will be all right, just keep spending. But everything won't be all right. It'll be "have and have nots" on a scale most people in this time period cannot even imagine. Nearly all of human life on the planet---our whole civilization and everything in it---is built on the house of cards of oil. And it is going to run out. Soon. And there is nothing to replace it.

Soon, you will look back on $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon gasoline with fond nostalgia of "the good ol' days".
 
Thats it, price should be ruled by how much a country can make / cost of getting it there. Funny thing is here they charge more for DIESEL than they do for UNLEADED. Diesel is far cheaper to produce and without it most countries would grind to a halt. They say they charge more because they don't sell as much of it as unleaded. What a load of absolute BS, we have coal mines here that go through 500,000 litres of it A DAY! FOR JUST ONE MINE! Just locally we have at least 5 mines!

Whilst we continue to pay for it they will continue to turn us right over a f$%k us up the perverbial "A" hole. This is a topic that really gets me riled up! The "oh but oil will run out" thing is a load of BS too, oil is CONSTANTLY being made by nature. Grrrrr
 
Malaysian petrol is subsidized now the government is slowing removing the subsidy. the petroleum companies does not want to take any part of the subsidy. people working for them make good money and get bonuses up to 6 months to 1 year.
 
Well, Novacastrian, science is observable data. Have you SEEN oil being made in Nature? Gee, someone like Chevron would have been all over that one if it were so. They would have made a theme park out of it, too, with all kinds of neat rides. Probably a movie also. Complete with Happy Meal toys.

Whether the oil is running out or not (it is, regardless of wishful thinking---we live on a planet of FINITE resources)the fact is, most of the oil is in the Middle East. They own it. Hence, they can sell it for whatever price they want to. It's called trade. Supply and demand. The U.S. found this out the hard way in 1973. And 1979. And the post 9/11 years. And now. Everyone wants to whine about it, but no one wants to actually DO anything about it. Like demand fuel efficiency. Like conserve energy or enact fuel conservation measure. Texas here is raising their speed limit to 85 MPH.

The Arab nations want to get paid a certain price for their oil. This is fair because it's their oil. We may not like it, but that's the way it is. we'd do the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot. I guarantee you that if the U.S. had all the oil, we'd still charge you guys in Australia the same the Arab nations charge you. Know why? Where do you think the Arab nations learned it in the first place? From American oil companies! We taught them the business! You have options. One is to pay what they ask and quit whining about it. Chalk it up to the cost of living in the modern age, such as it is. Another is to develop better fuel efficient vehicles and, ergo, buy less fuel and, thus, spend less money to go from Point A to Point B. Yet another is to get busy finding an alternative fuel. But to think that you deserve to pay what you want to pay for gas just "because", well, that might work if your country OWNED it. But you don't. We don't, either. The OPEC nations do. I mean, how would you feel if some guy across town came to your yard sale and told you he should only pay a nickle for something you have a $10 price tag on? You'd tell him to go take a hike----especially if there were a couple other people with money in hand, ready to pay the $10. Is the West ready to boycott Arab oil? Somehow I doubt it.

P.S. Even if your country does possess the fuel resources, your country itself doesn't "own" it----private corporations do. Hence, they can charge whatever they please. That's business. Again, pay what they ask and don't whine about it. Chalk it up to the cost of living. Or do something about it. Demand public ownership and management of the fuel resources. Demand better mileage from cars. But Acme Oil company does not have to sell you their oil at the price you think is fair just because you think their price is unfair. Their board of directors doesn't feel it's unfair---especially when they get paid. It's their product. They don't feel it's their fault they want to make more money. They probably think, hey, if you can't afford it, then ask your boss for a raise. Yeah, NOW it's unfair, but this is the system we created and then told everyone on the planet how superior it is and how great it is and how Adam Smith's "invisible hand" was so god-like and right. So now everyone needs to suck it up, deal with it and quit whining about it. Everyone got exactly what they asked for.
 
Nature producing oil aside, i agree about supply and demand determining prices. However if we as Australians pull more than enough oil out of the ground to support ourselves i do not see why we are paying international prices.It comes out of OUR ground! The cost of harvesting and refining a litre of X fuel is about 1 tenth of what we get charged for it. The government loves it too because they get their greedy little pimply hands on their 10% goods and services tax. Punks.

Australians could boycott Arab oils up until the point of being bombed into the 5th century.
 
The prices here start at 7.68ILS per litre (1.36GBP, 1.52EUR, 2.3USD), meaning it's 29.07ILS for a US gallon (5.14GBP, 5.8EUR, 8.56USD). what a ripoff... AND it just goes up every week or so.
 
£1.36 is AUD$2.17. I think I paid around $1.40 last time I filled up so I think we've got it pretty cheap here, that's only around 2/3 of your price. I'm well behind on the mileage though it seems, that Fiat must run on an oily rag. :)
 
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