Is Gas Expensive Here? Nope, Not Compared to World Prices

It's no doubt the price of gas is hurting all of us. The price of almost everything is a big hurt. But, gas is the one we focus the most on and it seems there is no end in sight to rising gas prices. What are we to do? Be glad we don't live in Europe!

My friend Rob Sparks, and former work mate here at the radio stations, put this post up on Facebook from Shane Gamble. Shane was driving through France and need fuel, so pulled of the road at this service station and took this picture.

Facebook/Shane Gamble

It's showing the price of gas for different octanes. Looks pretty good, right? Not so fast. Here's what Shane said:

"I stopped to refill my rental car with fuel in the west of France. Here are the current prices. You see, the lowest grade of unleaded, 95 octane, is 1,932€/l. That's pretty cheap, right? No, that's quite wrong. Why? Well, the currency conversion is $1.07 USD to €, first of all. Secondly, there are 3.785 liters in a gallon. What does that mean?
1.932€/l multiplied by 1.07 USD/EUR multiplied by 3.785 l/gal equals $7.825/gal."

Did you catch that? The price of gas in France, on a per liter basis, and based on the Euro's value, is the equivalent to $7.825 a gallon here in the U.S. Yikes! Ouch! Holy Octane!

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

It is a world wide problem, this gas pricing and such a complicated issue.

In an article in the Washington Post regarding why the high gas prices, they said:

"The economy’s rapid recovery from the pandemic created more demand for gasoline, pushing prices higher. Then, the invasion of Ukraine led to a global backlash against Russia, which produces more oil than all but two other countries. So prices went higher again."

We can debate this forever, and granted, we don't use much Russian oil at all, but since the price per barrel is priced globally, there's nothing we can do about it. Besides, we Americans are driving more and more, and that alone is helping push prices higher.

Catalin205/Getty Images

Is there light at the end of the gas price tunnel? Actually, no one knows since we're in uncharted territory. As I've said before, one can only hope!

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