I spent 2002 and 2003 in Portugal as a Mormon missionary. At some point I remember calculating their gas price in dollars per gallon. If I remember correctly, it was around an astonishing $4.00/gal. I remember feeling grateful that I had never faced such an outrageous price back home (our prices were around $1.50/gallon).
I read a headline today about another record break in the price of oil (not exactly eye-catching news anymore). It caused me to wonder, though, “What are other countries paying?”
I started with Great Britain. As of today their average price of unleaded “petrol” is 113.7 pence/liter or 1.14£/liter. Convert that to gallons you get 4.31£/gallon, and with today’s exchange rate it comes out to $8.47/gal!
As of April 3, Japan was paying $4.96/gal. Both GB and Japan make our average of $3.79/gallon seem reasonable.
My curiosity led me to a CNN report from 2006. Although it is two years outdated, it shows the extreme disparity in gas prices throughout the world. Great Britain and many other European countries top the list (not surprising). The big shocker comes at the bottom of the list—Venezuela only pays a few cents per gallon! Apparently, there are no gas taxes, and they only consume their own oil.
Anyone want to go to Venezuela?
