fuel prices... *pukes*

[Deth]

Thats why I said i am not sure of the income over there. I am not sure if the jobs pay as much there as here. To me that is more of the difference then the exchange rate. If you have the same cost of living as we do but get paid less that does suck. Yes that does sound low for that type of job any where over here. I am lucky I am in a mid range cost of living area, There are places much much worse where i live and there are places much better.

[Hasai]

$4 for how much?

we're paying over £1 / litre in the UK at the moment, and it's going up all the time.

I gather most of it is in taxes :/

It is.

I heard a lovely little tale from the oil minister of Brunei. It seems a EU politician visited him to complain about the cost of petrol and to ask for a price cut. The minister countered with an offer to ship all the oil the politician could ever want for free; Brunei would even cover the shipping costs, on just one condition: Brunei received half of the EU tax revenues levied on the petrol.

The politician declined.

[Spirit]

Gas affects everything. Where I live, I think its up to $1.50 a litre. I don't pay for gas, I take the bus. But a bus fare is up to $2.50 a ride, or $70 for a monthly pass, due to the fuel cost.

Now, what I will say now is going to sound crazy and you wouldn't think it related. But the cost of flour has gone up sharply, perhaps 300% in a short while. The reason behind it is the discovery of biofuels. Now, farmers have found that with biodiesel, they can make a fortune off of growing corn and soy for the oil. Which then leaves them abandoning wheat. Unfortunately, flour is used in... everything! Pasta, bread, cakes, cookies, mixes, all kinds of things!~ This means that food that uses flour gets even more expensive because the supply is getting thinner.

But with the cost of fuel to transport things getting more expensive, food rises accordingly in price to cover transport costs as well.

With fuel prices high, it is quite possible that with this panning out to the market for food, a lot of people will be starving soon.

Biofuels are a complete disaster waiting to happen. They fail on so many levels it's just unreal. You're quite probably right Rune!

Btw... should be flying to Vancouver tomorrow... although going straight over to the island.

Raku

[Amecha]

Fuel prices are nasty, we're over $4 here now. It's sad how much it effects everything else. Working retail, products are also going up in price due to the increased cost of getting it here. I lose count every day of how many complaints I get due to the increased prices.

We were actually joking today about how the fuel prices are increasing, and the one thing that isn't is our wages. "Since fuel prices are rising, I feel my price is rising, too. I need a raise to compensate for the cost of getting to work," how many employers would really take this seriously? lol

[Favoran]

Well, the trouble with that is it'll just lead to higher gas prices which will lead to higher wages which will lead to higher gas prices... Yay inflation! XD

We're approaching $3.50 here, which isn't so bad compared to $4... But still. It's ridiculous.

[Ahael]

Hmm. 95 octane regular unleaded costs about $8.50 USD per gallon (or about 1.4 euros per L) around here... It's a good thing I drive only about 15000-18000 km per year, so the overall cost of fuel isn't end of the world...

[Oakleif]

This was sent to me and when I saw this thread I thought it might be of interest to some of you. I don't know the validity of all of these, but they do make some sense. I am not the "my" referred to in what follows.

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS
My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some
tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon..

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we
deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.
One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and
premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of
16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the
ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations
have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground
the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so
buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not
exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and
the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and
other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But
the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the
pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a
fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three
(3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping
on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you
are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are
pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank
becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the
underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is
HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have
in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline
evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an
internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the
gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike
service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is
temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact
amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the
storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely
the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and
you might pick up some f the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS.

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It
might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods.
We should return the favor.

An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into
the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't
import their oil from the Saudis.

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up
the tank, I am sending my money to perpetuate this drug-like
dependency.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies
are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle
Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell.......................... 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco...........................62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans.
If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18
BILLION! (oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco.................0 barrels

Conoco.................0 barrels

Sinclair................0 barrels

B P/Phillips............0 barrels

Hess......................0 barrels

ARC0...................0 barrels

If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near
you.

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and
each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they
are importing.

[Vahrokh]

Paying 1.5 euros per gas liter here (more if you buy the "top line", 1.57 euros).

This translates into 1.5 * 1 / 0.26 = 5.79 euros per gallon

In dollars it is

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/co...USD&amt=1&t=5y

1 Eur = 1.5728 USD

That is

9,07 USD per gallon

As for gas, also consider that in countries where gas is $8/gal, it's easier to find a car with good gas mileage. Emissions laws and consumer mentality make that difficult here in the US.

This is kind of a rude wake up, but it had to come sooner or later.

USA are one of the few not signing up / agreeing to emission / pollution conferences, it was bound to happen that one day you'd had consequences for this.
Better now than later, when it'd be even worse.


What I find completely ridicolous, is how it's decades scientists warn about oil availability, it's decades we let rich middle eastern tyrants sitting on oil, feed upon western countries money to buy weapons and immense wealth.

If they were left eating their own sand, atm we would not have crazy men raising their pet nuclear arsenals, others visiting my country on 100 million yacths buying 13,000 euros dresses for every of their dozens concubines (still in my country, some days ago as the news say).

We (and you, so far ahead in scientific progress) let them fatten and get powerful. We are going to pay with the interests.

Add China + India exploding in progress right now and you have a very dire situation.

With fuel prices high, it is quite possible that with this panning out to the market for food, a lot of people will be starving soon.

In some middle eastern countries, the more or less illegal drugs herbs fields are being replaced by herbs that can be converted in "fuel".
This gives the idea on how BIG the fuel / energy impact on life.

Of course, in the just ended totally failure FAO meeting, they confirmed the financial support for converting more coltures into the "fuel" thing.

Of course no one recalled of those "fuel herbs" happen to be the very cereals that the poor populations need to survive, and that of curse the greed for raising cereals prices for making fuel is doubling the cost for using it as food.