OUCH

[Amelia]

Paid $3.00gal for gas today. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/icon_smile_sick.gif" alt="" />

[Dr. Shane]

Wow!!! All full service in Oregon? We are paying $2.29 here. But I buy premium so I pay $2.49 - Self-serve of course.

[Amelia]

Yes, we are full service here.

[cricket]

I've never received full service at a fillng station. Tell me, do they still check the oil and wash the windshields??

[cricket]

Wait! Amelia, don't answer that today. Wait until Friday night...I'm thinkin' my Prophecy 10,000 will come true.

[Gregory Matthews]

I just returned from vacation in California, and I am glad for gasoline where I live at $2.31 per gallon. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

But, I cannot help but remember living in a country 25years ago where gasoline cost $5.00 a gallon in the typical gasoline station. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/Nixe_nixe02b.gif" alt="" />

[Michelle]

Sorry for those of you who have to drive so much. We're still paying right around $6.00 U.S. per gallon, but don't do as much driving as a lot of you. It is not cost effective for us to drive if there's only one person, so we hop on public transportation, and use the busses and MTR for most of our traveling.

M

[Beryl]

Well, work this one out! In Australia petrol (called gas in USA)is sold by the litre. This week I paid $1.28 per litre. In looking up my dictionary of measurements I find that 1 gallon = 4.55 litres! And, No, THAT IS NOT FULL SERVICE! If you want to get more technical, today an Aussie dollar was worth about 75 cents USA.

Stop grumbling!!

Love ya!

Beryl

[Stan]

The American gallon is smaller than the gallons in other counties, it is only 3.7 liters

[Beryl]

Hi, Michelle, since moving residence I am close to a good public transport service, and have been leaving the car at home, and I am saving money. I used to spend $40.00 per week for petrol (that was before this latest price hike, paying about 90c per litre) and that would take me about $500 km. Since using public transport wherever possible, I have cut to $40 - $60 per fortnight on petrol, with my bus fares being about $10.00 per fortnight. (I am also getting a little smaller with the extra exercise!)

[Bravus]

$1.30 * 3.7 = AU$4.81 per gallon * 0.75 = US$3.61 per gallon

So Oz does have it a little worse than the US, but not a huge amount. Certainly everywhere in Europe is much worse off. Given that the oil price is the same worldwide, it's actually taxes that make the difference.

Here in Edmonton we can usually still pick it up at about 85c a litre (still, that's up from 55 when I first arrived here!), so:

$0.85 * 3.7 = CN$3.14 per gallon * 0.75 = US$2.36 per gallon, so about on par with the US.

[Beryl]

Thanks, Stan, that makes me feel LOTS better! It only cost me $4.736 a litre -- which would have been about $US3.55. IT STILL HURTS!

[Amelia]

The only grumbling in my area is, why does the gas for Oregon and Washington cost more per gal than the rest of the country? Even California? Its not right and no one in the political arena is answering. grrrrrr

[Dr. Shane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

why does the gas for Oregon and Washington cost more per gal than the rest of the country?

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

One problem in the US is that there are over 40 different standards (or recipes) for gasoline. Each state has its own requirements. So gasoline made for California cannot be sold in Oregon. A large part of the cost is the refining of the gasoline. If the federal government would have one standard for the entire country it would trim a few cents off the price and virtually eliminate shortages which can cause temporary price spikes.

[Dottie]

Shane--

Why are you buying premium gasoline. It should only be used in cars that require its use in the owner's manual. Otherwise, it does not at all improve the performance of regular cars.

[Dottie]

"some of the oil equipements was not working

due to bad storms"

well, if the caring environmentalists would allow more refineries to be built, there wouldn't be a problem if one or two have to slow production because of the weather or such.

[LynnDel]

Amelia,

I don't know about WA, but Oregon has to make up for loss of sales tax revenue somewhere - so watch out for gas prices and property taxes!!!

LD

[Gregory Matthews]

There are several reasons why gasoline costs more in some parts of the country than in others:

1) In Oregon, the law prohibits serlf-serve gasoline stations. The result is higher labor costs, and therefore, higher gasoline costs.

2) Altitude affects the cost of gasoline. Colorado is a high altitude state compared to many others. Altitude affects octane rating. [NOTE: There are two methods of determining octane rating. Altitude only affects one method. The octane rating listed on the gasoline pump is an average of the two methods, and is therefore affected by altitude.] High altitude states attempt to compensate for the effect of altitude by lowering the octane rating. e.g. In Colorado regular gasolien is 85 octane, and in California it is 87 octane.

3) Due to altitude, and to local smog conditions some areas of the US need galoline that is oxygenated. This requires a different formulation for gasoline than do other areas. e.g. The formulation for gasoline sold in the Denver metro area may differ from that sold in other parts of Colorado. [NOTE: This changes, and is based upon the changing requirements of the EPA. i.e. Based upon ozone and other smog-type readdings, the Denver metro area may have changing formulation requirements. As these requirements are based upon radings over an extended period of time, the formulation requirements change from year to year, but not on a short period of time.] As a point of interest, the reauirements for WY, differ from those of CO. People living in Colorado, near the WY State line may travel to WY to purchase theier gasoline as it costs less than that of CO, and part of this cost factor is the different formulation.

I could go on, but there are many reasons for the differing costs of gasoline.

[Naomi]

Whatever the reason(s) it really makes a difference in your life when you must travel to earn a living and the prices show no evidence of going anyplace but UP <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/icon_smile_sick.gif" alt="" />

[Dr. Shane]

It isn't just about how much it costs us to fill up our tank with gas. The world moves by oil. Everything we buy from food and clothing to medicine and cosmetics is transported by oil (planes, trains, ships & trucks). The increase in the cost of gas will result in EVERYTHING increasing in cost.

However there is hope on the horizen. The new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline was completed in May and should be filled by the end of the year. It is estimated to start producing 1 million barrels of oil/day. It will carry crude oil from the land-locked Caspian Sea to the Mediterrian. The Caspeian Sea holds the third largest oil reserves known in the world and currently has to send its products through Russia. Since the area produces 2 million barrels a day it will continue to send crude through Russia. The 1 million sent through the new pipeline will actually increase world supply. That should impact prices at the pump.

[]http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0525/csmimg/p6b.gif[/]

[Stan]

being multilingual <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> (ask me kids <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

A fortnight for your americans cousins means 2 weeks

[Michelle]

Guangdong Province has a severe oil/gas shortage right now. Stories of motorists stopped by the side of the road, bowing with clasped hands like beggers, trying to get someone to have mercy and give them a little gas. From China Daily:

China struggling to meet fuel shortages

(AP/chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2005-08-17 16:34

Officials scrambled Tuesday to resolve severe gasoline and diesel shortages in China's south and east amid complaints that government price controls are worsening supply problems, the Associated Press reported.

Drivers in the southern province of Guangdong were waiting for hours for gas in lines up to a half-mile long, sometimes leaving with empty tanks when supplies ran out.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, more than half of all gas stations closed Monday as shortages worsened, the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.

Although disruptions to tanker traffic due to recent typhoons were one factor, the crisis is mainly blamed on government price controls that prevent local refineries from passing on higher costs due to surging crude oil prices, AP said.

Meanwhile, the price authorities in Guangdong Province has launched a crackdown on gas stations that drove up fuel prices, the Xinmin Evening Post reported Wednesday.

A gas station found pushing up prices is subjuct to a fine of up to 200,000 yuan, according to the Shanghai-based newspaper.

Signs of supply shortages began surfacing earlier this month, with reports that Guangdong filling stations were limiting vehicles to 50 yuan, or $6, worth of fuel — or about 11 liters, or nearly three gallons, of gas.

At the pump in Guangdong, gasoline currently retails for 4.28 yuan a liter, or $2.01 a gallon.

An official in the Shenzhen government's information office confirmed that the city was struggling to resolve the problem, saying it would take some time. In the meantime, the official, who refused to give his name, provided a list of 56 stations — out of more than 200 in the city — that he said still had fuel to sell.

The daily supply of gasoline to the city was about 10,500 gallons, while demand is well over 18,500 gallons, the Post reported.

"Generally speaking, the petrol supply in Guangdong is tight," said a publicity department official in the Guangdong branch of China Petroleum and Chemicals Corp., also known as Sinopec.

The outlook for just about every fuel category was "not optimistic," said the official, who gave only her surname, Huang.

Reports said the shortages had spread to Shanghai and eastern China's Zhejiang province. Shanghai's city government and filling station employees denied the city was facing shortages.

The government has appealed to major fuel suppliers Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp. to boost shipments into Guangdong.

"Sinopec is trying to transport oil from other parts of China to fulfill Guangdong's needs," said Huang. But she added, "It does not totally depend on us."

In another development, Sinopec is expected hold an emergency meeting in Guangzhou to discuss measures to adress the shortages, the Xinmin Evening Post said.

Sources from Sinopec attributed the shortages in Guangdong to traffic disruptions caused by Typhoon Matsa and heavy rainfalls in Northeast China, according to the report. The oil storage in Northeast China is sufficient to resolve the shortages in Guangdong and once the railway and road traffic resumed, the shortages in the Pear River delta will be greatly eased, the sources said.

The shortages have prompted calls for changes in controls that fix gas and diesel prices at levels lagging well behind changes in international crude oil prices.

Pump prices in China rose an average of 20 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year, while international crude oil prices surged 30 percent during the same time. Crude oil prices were hovering above $66 a barrel Tuesday, about 46 percent above the level a year ago.

With those higher costs eating into profits, domestic refiners reported net losses totalling 4.19 billion yuan ($517 million) in the first six months of this year, down from a net profit of 16.4 billion yuan ($2 billion) a year earlier.

Instead of meeting rising demand at home, refineries have instead boosted exports to markets overseas, where they can charge higher prices.

[Michelle]

[]http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/xin_460802180916195283813.jpg[/]

[Michelle]

[]http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/18/xin_46080218091603942062.jpg[/]

Lines of cars waiting in Guangdong Province for fuel.

M

[Fran]

Michelle:

Look in th 4th row from the left. Look up the row until you see red. It is the 7th car back. That is me. I have since moved up 3 more places.

I should reach my destination one day late since today is the 17th, but you are living in my future on the 18th.