Gasoline Prices - How high can it go?

So after filling up my gas tank today I have seemed to notice how gas is slowly creepy up to the all-time highs during 2006. I don't complain about gas prices that often; since I have to do 93 octane on my car no matter what but I just had to do $4.04/gallon today and spend around $55 to fill up my gas tank.

How high is gas getting up in your area? Do you think it's messed up?

The price for gas at my favorite spot is $3.75/gal, which I guess isn't too bad considering I have an 08 Focus that gets wonderful mileage. I heard rumors that it's going to hit $5.00/gal by summer, which is outrageous. Gas companies can only push it so far in a certain amount of time before they get investigated though. Still, the thought is scary.

lol, $55 for a full tank of fuel. I pay $50 a week for half a tank of fuel.

Back on topic, I don't think it's messed up at all. It's called capitalism. You want it, they've got it, you'll pay for it. Simple as that. Although I'm thinking of getting a motorbike, at least for my daily commute to work, because they're a lot cheaper to run. I don't know yet, would need my motorcycle licence first

quote LOD-squa

quote walnuts

lol, $55 for a full tank of fuel. I pay $50 a week for half a tank of fuel.

What do you drive? a truck? big gas tank? I have a 13.7 gallon tank; I wasn't completely on empty I had about 1/4 of a tank left so that's not the most accurate price range. Gas mileage also comes into account.

I drive a regular 4 door sedan. I just did the conversion and I'm paying the equivalent to $6.39/gallon (I converted from Australian to US dollars).

Not as much as Dynamite, but still a lot more expensive then the US of A.

LOD-squa: a lot of it is tax, actually. Here's a good graph highlighting what we pay which allows you to see how much tax is included within that. It's a year out of date but isn't too far off and represents the issue well:


Source: BBC News - Why are Americans so angry about petrol prices?

As you can see, in the US you pay next to nothing in tax while the actual cost of fuel is the same in all of the countries. Only the tax at the pump makes the prices vary so widely. The article makes a good point regarding the fact that Americans typically have a longer commute as well as the fact that the freedom personal travel gives you is seen as deeply entrenched in the American psyche which perhaps causes more unease when gas prices rise. This is an interesting quote:

quote Dan Neil - Wall Street Journal Motoring Correspondent - via BBC News

Americans are not aware of what the rest of the world pays for gas. We are a very big, inward-looking domestic market. We don't watch soccer, we don't watch French movies and we don't really care what the Europeans pay for their gas.

It's a very big country and the entire infrastructure is predicated on scandalously cheap energy. Everything we do is big - business, agriculture, entertainment.

Where we live, where we play, all of that is predicated on cheap gas, so when the price of gas goes up, it really cuts to the heart of the American way of life.

Least it's not 20 dollars a gallon, right guys?

quote Misty

I just bought a new bike in anticipation of the gas prices

A push bike or a motorbike?

quote Shadow of Death

It's floating in the mid $1.20 to $1.30+ a liter here in southern Ontario.

I think it's around $1.05 in Alberta (or somewhere in there) but that's because it's Alberta and we're stupid with our oil.

I can't drive but I'd prefer my bike anyways for riding into town. It gets you exercise plus it's more fun than sitting in a car.

Only ever ride my bike when I'm at school so I'm both happy and sad when I go back home and start driving again. Love the convenience of just being able to drive around quickly but in my truck that gets about 15 mpg in the city it sucks to have to spend so much on gas. Believe gas is about $4.10 in Alaska right now. Gas is usually a little higher than the national average there. Not going to complain though. Have to have it and it's much worse in other places so whatever, it's worth it.