Gas prices of the world:

[The Straight Story]

A little outdated, but interesting anyway.

[gateley]

1. Look at the diff between Baghdad

and other "oil rich" cities/countries in the ME. We've even fucked up their cheap gas prices.

[magellan]

2. And why is Dubai's oil price even higher??

Can't think of why that should be. :shrug:

[gateley]

8. Yeah, I saw that, too --

maybe because everyone there is probably rich beyond belief, and they can GET that much for it? :shrug:

[magellan]

10. Or maybe it's because of the large immigrant population

Keep the gas prices up to keep the little guys down?

I dunno. Time to check the Google I guess.

on edit: Maybe this is why. From BBC 2007:

In the Gulf, Dubai crude is used as a benchmark to price sales of other regional crudes into Asia.

This is not because there are more supplies of Dubai crude oil than of any other grade - there are not - but because it is one of the few Gulf crudes available in single, on the spot, sales as opposed to long term supply contracts.

:shrug: Hope someone wanders through this thread who can answer why their price is so much higher.

[bluesbassman]

12. Cost of doing business.

Similar to the San Francisco Bay Area (where we have a large refinery infrastructure, so it should be cheaper to get the gas to the pumps) the real estate and associated costs of doing business in Dubai are probably high. Wait until Bush and Cheney relocate there, then they'll be paying $4.00 a gallon just like us!:rofl:

[magellan]

13. Serious?

So the price of gasoline tells us how affluent the country or region is?

[bluesbassman]

14. More the underlying costs than affluence.

Factors such as real estate costs, taxes, labor etc. all contribute to the costs of delivering gas. My guess though is that the margin of profit for the station owners around the country is probably similar, so the variance in prices are due to locale costs. However, I think a case could be made that areas with a higher per capita income would have correspondingly higher gas prices.

[magellan]

15. That makes sense

Any idea why it wouldn't be the same in Saudi Arabia? Maybe because it's not the "go to" place Dubai is?

[bluesbassman]

17. Government subsidy.

Like Venezuela, I believe that the Saudis subsidize the cost of fuel. Plus they're pumping the oil straight from the ground to the refineries. No speculating middle men.

An interesting side note to this, as far as speculating middle men goes, is the pension funds involvement. The enormous influx of capital into the commodities market has had a significant impact on current oil prices. It would seem likely that major investors like pension funds will have a considerably inflationary influence on oil prices. Check this out:

*snip*
Economist Glen Langan told BloggingStocks Thursday Calpers' decision will impact the U.S. economy twofold.

"First, there's the direct impact of Calpers moving money toward commodities, which is bullish. Second, and perhaps more significant, there's the symbolic impact of having a major buy-side institution say it's going to commit more money to commodities. That decision will no-doubt encourage other institutions and money managers to do the same, and put more fire under commodity prices for 2008," Langan said. "That suggests commodities will perform well in 2008, barring a major slowdown in global growth."

Still, Langan is quick to point out the downside to the United States to double-digit commodity price growth, particularly as it relates to energy and raw materials. Rising commodity prices will continue to exert inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy, raising costs for businesses and consumers. Some companies (and individuals) will benefit from the rise, as will institutions who invest in the investment class, but the net effect for the U.S. economy is decidedly negative, he said.

"The U.S. economy is just beginning to see the inflation effect of various commodity price increases, particularly oil, but also corn and wheat. That should add about 1 percentage point to retail inflation," Langan said. "If the commodity bull market continues in 2008, it could add another percentage point to retail inflation. On a practical level, are U.S. consumers' financially prepared for $5 a gallon gasoline, and businesses prepared for raw material costs that increase by, say, another 20-30%? Probably not, which is why policy makers are going to have to prepare potential solutions, should commodity prices reach unacceptable levels."

The last paragraph is very telling. It looks like we're at a point where prices have reached an unacceptable level IMHO.

www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/02/28/calpers-investments-in-commodities-to-impact-the-u-s-economy/

[magellan]

19. And that was from February

Yeah, it's not looking good. And until we manage to get a sane president I doubt we'll see any meaningful solutions put forward, much less acted on.

I think you're right, SA subsidizes like Venezuela. Well, they sit on it so why not?

It really should tick Americans off that a good chunk of what we're paying for gas now is due to speculation. At least in places like Europe, where a lot of the cost of gas is taxes, they're actually getting something out of the extra money they're spending. Like healthcare.

Thanks for educating me! :hi:

[bluesbassman]

20. You're welcome.

I really couldn't get why oil was spiking so high until I caught wind of the big investors (hedge funds, pensions, etc.) involvement. This is certainly an area that must be addressed as it's clear that the massive amounts of new money pouring into commodities is manipulating the market in the worst way.

Here's to hoping that our new Democrat president will mark the beginning of turning this around!
:toast:

[dweller]

3. i'm moving to Caracas!

$0.17?

dp

[napi21]

4. You can't compare price per gal across the world because

each contry has different things built in. Most of Europe has taxes added to their gas prices for road building/maintenance and many other things, where the US fights over a highway bill all the time!

[lutefisk]

9. Also, using the US Dollar to compare throws things off

Just think how much more expensive gas is in dollar terms in European countries lately just because of the dollar losing so much of its value.

[Rosemary2205]

5. I would like to humbly point out.

there is the price of gas and then there is the price of gas plus taxes.

[The Straight Story]

7. Yeah I know

But I have seen people here often ask what the price was elsewhere so I mainly posted it for those that want to know.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. What's the date for this and did they explain why they left off L.A.? n/t

[depakid]

11. Quite a bit outdated. $1.50 per liter in Sydney = $5.68 per gallon

$1.30 per liter Vancouver, Canada.

£1.13. per liter average in Britain. That translates into $8.15 per gallon.

Gas is still cheap in the states. For the time being....

[alfredo]

16. My poster on big oil

Hope you saw Robert Kennedy on Letterman tonight.

[and-justice-for-all]

18. A lot of those countries have a worthy public transit system..

not all of them, but most. Or the majority of the populace uses another mode of transportation that does not require fuel consumption.

[dipsydoodle]

21. Current pump price for diesel in the UK

is £1.20 / litre which is roughly US$ 2.3 / litre. Not sure how many litres in a US gallon.