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Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
It’s time for another whimsical Tuesday Turnip search wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting factoids “turn-up.”
Today I typed in “gas prices by country” unearthing the following list compiled from a variety of different sites:
- Tehran, Iran: $0.33
- Cairo, Egypt: $0.86
- Lagos, Nigeria: $1.92
- Beijing, China: $2.44
- Mexico City, Mexico: $2.34
- New York, US: $2.76
- Moscow, Russia: $2.89
- Havana, Cuba: $3.03
- Toronto, Canada: $3.28
- Sydney, Australia: $3.57
- Rome, Italy: $5.62
- Seoul, Korea: $6.06
- Oslo, Norway: $6.48
- Paris, France: $6.52
- London, England: $6.65
You missed Caracas at about 10-12 cents per gallon.
posted by Steve Rayle on 6-12-2007 at 11:13 am
I wish gas were $2.76 in my part of NY. We’re up to $3.50+ depending which station you go to.
posted by sporkk on 6-12-2007 at 2:23 pm
Nice to hear NY being misrepresented, cheap gas is $3.50+ in Humboldt, Ca. Everyone here thinks the rest of the country is being let off easy.
posted by Emily Jane on 6-12-2007 at 8:52 pm
The relative prices are primarily a function of taxes (California and NY) and subsidies (Iran and Venezuela). The politicians can make you pay whatever they’ve determined is the “right” price for your community. If the price they encourage is less than the actual price, then you’ll end up paying for it some other way….
posted by Aaron on 6-13-2007 at 6:39 am
Aaron raises excellent points! Also, government tinkering with the specific blend requirements add a lot to the cost as well. Case in point: oxygenated fuel is required at some times of the year in many parts of the US (in some places ALL the time). The oxygenate added (formerly it was generally MTBE, but now generally Ethanol) costs a lot more than the gasoline it replaces and provides less energy contnent. This raises the cost of the fuel in those areas.
Originally the oxygenate mandate was done to reduce emissions during warmup on older technology cars. Nowadays, vehicles go “closed-loop” so quickly (
posted by Sid Morrison on 6-13-2007 at 7:32 am
hmmm… my posting keeps getting truncated! I was using a “less than” symbol… maybe that screwed it up. Here’s the rest.
—————-
Nowadays, vehicles go “closed-loop” so quickly (less than 20 seconds), there is really no emissions benefit. The ethanol remains required though, as a giveaway to big-contributing agribusiness giants like corn processor Archer Daniels Midland and to line the pockets of corn-farmers (especially in the election-critical State of Iowa!) . There are other “special requirements” for fuel in certain areas (notably California) that all drive up the prices, but the use of Ethanol is the major boondoggle scam.
Straight talk from Sid.
posted by Sid Morrison on 6-13-2007 at 7:36 am