Europeans Pay More For Gas

http://sizly.com/...Oil prices have been rising dramatically the past few weeks because of the unrest in the Middle East. Pump prices in America are high, but compared to what Europeans are paying, they may seem like a bargain. In the U.S., Wednesday’s national average for gasoline was at $3.53 per gallon, as monitored by AAA. That’s the 16th straight day prices have increased; prices are already 34 cents higher. In Oslo, Norway, however, the price per gallon is $9.28, according to Norwegian search and news site Din Side. And according to the International Energy Administration (IEA), most Europeans, specifically the British, Irish, Germans, French, and Italians, shell out between $7.50 to $8.00 per gallon at the pump. In Denmark, it was $8.20 per gallon in February. In Greece, they pay $8.45 a gallon. Europeans have their own fuel supplies, so the higher prices do not necessarily come from heavy dependence on foreign supplies. In fact, Norway has a successful oil industry in the Atlantic, as well as the U.K.“The difference between countries comes down to taxes and subsidies,” explained Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for Oil Price Information Service. “Prices are incredibly high in Europe because of the stiff taxes that EU countries put on fuel. The same holds true for many other countries.” Italy’s oil production company, Eni, is the top oil producer in Libya. But Italians paid $7.77 per gallon on average last February, said the IEA. Aside from Europe, the Japanese also have higher gas prices. At the end of last month, they were forking out $6.30 per gallon. And in Canada, the average is $4.49 per gallon. On the other hand, cheaper gas prices are pretty much the norm among OPEC nations in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as Venezuela and Nigeria. Kloza attributes this to state oil subsidies. “There are some countries, Venezuela comes to mind, where the street price is subsidized and you might hear about a very cheap retail number,” said Kloza. “The same holds true for India and China and some other emerging countries where the prices are subsidized by the state.” In 2008, when gas prices peaked at $4.11 per gallon in the U.S., the average retail per gallon was less than $1 in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria. In Venezuela, it was $0.12 to a gallon.