Gas is cheap!

A friend from the UK visited me at the weekend last week. As we drove by the local Exxon, and he spotted the $4.30 marker for regular unleaded, he commented “Petrol is cheap here.” Really?

Well, in the UK, he said he was paying £1.40 a litre for diesel. With the British pound near $2 and 3.78 litres per gallon, that comes out to about $10 per gallon. Cheap indeed.

Edward Janeck over at the Investing Speculator has a blog entry that points this out. Using data from a May 6th USA today article. It shows how much less Americans pay for gas than other developed economies (although they pay next to nothing in Venezuela and Iran).

Something to think about next time you’re filling up.

Bogged down
Most expensive places to buy gas
Rank Country Price/gal
1. Eritrea $9.58
2. Norway $8.73
3. United Kingdom $8.38
4. Netherlands $8.37
5. Monaco $8.31
6. Iceland $8.28
7. Belgium $8.22
8. France $8.07
9. Germany $7.86
10. Portugal $7.84
108. United States $3.45

Cruisin’
Where gasoline is cheapest
Rank Country Price/gal
1. Venezuela 12 cents
2. Iran 40 cents
3. Saudi Arabia 45 cents
4. Libya 50 cents
5. Swaziland 54 cents
6. Qatar 73 cents
7. Bahrain 81 cents
8. Egypt 89 cents
9. Kuwait 90 cents
10. Seychelles 98 cents
44. United States $3.45

Chart Source: USA Today, 6 May 2008,U.S. gas: So cheap it hurts

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