I found a funny picture on one of the other boards from a guy in Surrey:

http://www.5vturbo.co.uk/images/fuel.jpg

30.92 pounds for 30.34 liters. That's $56.79 at the current exchange rate for 8.01 gallons. Works out to $7.09 per gallon. Glad I don't live in the UK!

 

Did the UK price go up also in response to sending fuel to the US ?

Addendum .. an answer from the BBC from today:
Isn't that crazy ? Europe pays more, to keep US prices low.

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UK petrol prices continue to rise

Petrol prices could rise above £1 a litre in some areas
UK petrol and diesel prices continued to rise in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with the average cost of petrol now at 94.6 pence a litre.
The average cost of a litre of unleaded petrol rose by more than 2p over the weekend from 92.3p on Friday, according to figures from industry body Catalist.

Average diesel prices now stand at 97.3p - up from 95.8p - and are expected to top £1 in the coming weeks.

Prices rose sharply after Katrina shut oil rigs and refineries in the US.
The price spike has been prompted by fears of supply shortages, with 80% of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico still out of action.

Of the eight refineries closed in Louisiana and Mississippi following Katrina, only one had managed to restart on Sunday.

Officials warned that two of the biggest refineries still out of action could remain closed for months because of extensive flooding damage.

 

take out the US tax and take out the tax there then compare, just because it is more in raw dollars doesn't mean that they actually pay more. Plus you must factor cost of living, average income, etc.

 

Hi Blaine

I'm afraid I do not understand your arguments.

Remember, this is not a crude oil crisis; it is a refined petrol (gasoline) crisis. The US does not refine petrol, and then send it overseas for European consumption. So discounting spurious price gouging by the companies as an explanation for the moment, the only answer left is that Europe supplies are tight, which would only happen if refined *commercial* supplies were being diverted to the US from European sources. I've not read this yet, but in an open world market economy it could happen, if the costs of diverting refined oil could be recouped with profit. The local political outcry, however, would be substantial.

Consider for a moment if the petrol prices this week jumped up another 20% say, and the local refineries told you the supplies were sent to China because profit was higher there. OK by you ?

Before you say "But we have a shortage !!", take into account that prices set demand.

As for COL/Income, it is quite besides the point, other than being an outlandish notion that the UK is richer than the US. You may wish to get some travelling under your belt.

 

This isn't right. I can't believe we're penalizing a continent an ocean away for our sense of luxury and lethargy.

Europe has solved its oil crises over the decades by taxing it, which in turn 1.) hikes refined petrol prices up to a level that makes Buyer beware of wastefullness and 2.) uses government-obtained proceeds to endeavor into mass transit systems, emmisions regulations, and efficiencies lightyears ahead of our own. It's just such a sad thing to watch in so many ways. We continue to take take take.

 

Wait. In one breath you say we are making them suffer. In another you are saying the government taxed it to make them use less.

 

It's all the same breath. Their government did tax them, and in doing so has provided a cleaner, more efficient, and more smoothly-flowing oil economy. I can understand and respect the plethora of views sure to be found here on the government regulation of business, but I don't think it can be argued that the U.S. even comes close to the EU nations in the areas I've mentioned. At least not in the 4 European countries I've lived in.

 

We're buying from them. They're an export partner. If they dont' want to sell to us, they can jack the price way up, screw the Americans on pricing, and pocket the profits themselves. Don't believe any of this BS about how the US buying goods from Europe (including gasoline) is somehow harmful to Europe. They can charge the US whatever they want and pocket the money.

 

And lose their lowered NATO-repriced goods in the process.

 

Price (including energy taxes) $ 7.40 / gallon in the Netherlands. (up from 7 before Katrina)

As we are part of the International Energy Agency we "help out" each other. This is a good thing, but the problem is that the US is so enormously fuel-hungry that it requires massive amounts of oil products to compensate for the lost refining capacity. All I was saying is that it's not more than fair to ask the american people to conserve a little, so that the impact on the rest of the world is not so heavy. Remember, they are using 25% of ALL the oil pumped up in the world, but they have only 5% of the population. If they would use their SUV's 10% less, or drive a little slower it would have a huge overall impact on total world consumption. Holland will have to export significant amounts of it's national production to satisfy only a small amount of the american need, this drives up prices badly.

We are exporting the gasoline without our energy taxes (as recorded in the IEA treaty), so we are giving the US a gigantic favor, because if the gasoline had been sold on the local market our government would have urned the taxes, that they could have used to improve public transportation......

There you go.........