This ABC report interested me because I can never work out how much it costs to fill up the car in other countries -- but this has all the prices spelled out in Australian dollars.
AM - Wednesday, 11 June , 2008 08:05:00 Reporter: David Mark TONY EASTLEY: Americans are complaining because their fuel has reached around one dollar a litre.
Australian motorists believe they're doing it tough at $1.50 a litre or thereabouts but petrol pain is acute in Europe where the prices are much higher. There, people have taken to the streets and highways in protest.
David Mark reports.
DAVID MARK: Around the world petrol prices are rising. Motorists and truck drivers on the street are on the street.
In Spain where the price of fuel is the equivalent of $AU 1.89 a litre, around 90,000 truck drivers have blocked the country's motorways with their lorries in protest.
VOX POP (translated): This is like a tug-of-war we mustn't give up at the beginning. This is the last bullet in our gun, if this doesn't work, we're lost.
DAVID MARK: Spanish petrol prices are in fact among Europe's cheapest. In Portugal where truck drivers are also protesting, fuel costs around $AU 2.40 per litre. It's about the same price in the UK and Italy.
The price in France and Germany is only marginally cheaper at around $AU 2.30 per litre.
Europe's most expensive countries for fuel are Norway at $AU 2.67 per litre and Turkey at $AU 2.68.
(Sound of people protesting)
The protests aren't confined to Europe. Motorists in many Asian companies are also up in arms about the petrol price hikes.
In Nepal, protesters are on the streets of Kathmandu after petrol rose 25 per cent. The price there is the Australian equivalent of a $1.58 per litre
Protesters are also on the street in Hong Kong where petrol costs around $1.99. It costs a $1.06 in Pakistan and in India it's a $1.24.
In South Korea, where the Government has offered to resign in part because of fuel prices, petrol costs $AU 1.96.
But while most motorists are doing paying ever more, in some countries fuel is virtually free. It costs just 12 cents per litre in Saudi Arabia and just five cents a litre in Venezuela.
Most motorists can only dream of paying so little for the fuel, but they can take some heart in a forecast by the International Energy Association which is predicting oil prices will fall over the next two years to below $US 100 a barrel.
 | These current gas prices are killing my family. My husband's job is about 20 miles from our home and while we live on a bus route (the poor excuse of mass transit we have in Metro Detroit), the bus quits running before he gets off of work. As a result, he has no other choice than to drive. The job won't change his shift to make it more compatible with the bus schedule, and getting a job around here is next to impossible. I can't afford the gas to go out to look for another job for myself. Out of an eight hour shift, about 1.5 hours of it is used to buy the gas to get there. I can understand why people around the world are protesting. |
 | Mike...I saw that thing about the truck protest, in Spain, on the TV, yesterday...quite a sight! They also mentioned places where gas was $5.00-$7.00 a gallon...mostly over in Europe. We just went past $4.00, in my area.
Gil |
 | We were discussing this over dinner last night and it started me thinking that we've made a rod for our own backs over most of the 20th century. So many cities are designed with the basic assumption that people will be able to drive where they want to go. When this is no longer so, it's going to cause major difficulties. |
| Mike...they had a segment, on our national TV news, this evening, about how people are conserving on gas...driving slower, keeping the foot off the accelator, etc. My next car...whenever I can get it...will be a Toyota Prius...it gets about 45 mpg.
Gil |
| I am concerned about what will happen to Detroit. The automakers did not want to make smaller, fuel efficient cars because they claimed they got bigger profits from big cars and trucks. In the paper today, Ford said they are going to convert some truck plants over to cars because 150s aren't selling. The car companies get on the tv all the time whining about how they are losing money, blah, blah, blah. If they made things people want to buy at a price they can afford, then they wouldn't be in this situation. Because of the stupidity of the auto execs, the Detroit area is going to suffer even more than what we are now. What a mess! |
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