Fed Up With High Petrol Prices? Go Live In Venezuela

May 25th, 2008

Peak oil part two

Here in the U.K. we’re hearing more and more complaints about the high and rising price of petrol, and with the recent rise in oil prices, it’s something that likely to get worse.

There’s an interesting page on Wikipedia which shows the relative price of petrol (or gasoline) in countries around the world, and highlights where we stand in the petrol price league table. Unsurprisingly, like most of Western Europe, we’re quite near the top, which is largely due to the tax levied by our Governments.

Our friends across the pond in the U.S. probably think they have it bad, but the cost of petrol there is less than half it is here in the U.K., and it will come as no surprise that the countries towards the bottom of the list tend to be the large oil producing nations. At the very bottom of the list is Venezuela (petroleum is their main export). Here’s the relative prices in a few select countries, all in US$ per gallon:

#1 - Siera Leone: $18.42
#7 - Germany: $8.91
#10 - U.K.: $8.53
#14 - France: $8.07
#36 - U.S.: $3.87
#40 - China: $2.44
#45 - Saudi Arabia: $0.45
#49 - Venezuela: $0.17

Can you imagine paying $0.17 for a gallon of petrol? Yes, that’s just 8p. You could probably fill your car up for about £3. Of course, the tax on petrol over here is seen as a way of limiting its use, and helping the environment, and whilst I think this is largely a good idea, it is interesting to see how much others are paying overseas. I personally would like the government to cut petrol us by giving incentives for greener cars or promoting other methods of transport, rather than keep piling tax onto petrol.

Hat tip to Chris Garrett for the Wikipedia link.

photo credit: adpowers