Barrell of oil is 42 gallons, I think. (Why oh why do we have to deal with such units more than two centuries after the advent of the metric system?) So $60/bbl is $1,43 a gallon. But they do make a lot of stuff out of a barrel of oil and I don't know if petrol is relatively more or less valuable... I recall it being reported that relatively high US petrol prices had something to do with lack of refinery capacity. Also, the refineries have considerable stock and futures for steady oil prices, and so and so on. As to why you were paying $2 a gallon back in eighties I don't know, but you must have made some gas station owner very happy. Cheers, Teemu Helsinki, Finland --- David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On Apr 14, 2006, at 3:39 AM, Teemu Pyyluoma wrote: > > > For > > example most EU nations have considerable taxes on > > petrol, originally for trade balance reasons but > > nowadays for environmental ones. Americans don't. > And > > this is really all you need to know to explain why > > average car in Europe has much better MPG than the > > average car in USA. Or what has had more effect on > air > > quality, few people biking or improving standards > on > > fuel and exhausts? > > > > Here's the number that puzzles my slow mind: cost of > a barrel of oil > from 1986 to 1999...within a range of $15 to $30. > Cost of a barrel of > oil between 1999 and the present...rising to $60. > And what has > happened to the cost of a gallon of gas? > > Well according to this website, if you allow for > inflation, the price > of gas in real dollars was about half in > 1986...which is in line with > the change in cost of a barrel of oil. > > http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/statistics/gasoline_cpi_adjusted.html > > But I lived in California in 1985 and I remember > paying a couple of > dollars per gallon. Inflation should make money > worth less. So if I'm > paying two dollars and some per gallon now and I was > paying two dollars > and some per gallon then...there's something weird > about the > calculation. > > Why haven't our gas (petrol) prices doubled? > Because the cost of oil > is a small percentage of the cost of the final > product and refiners are > taking a smaller mark-up? Because there has been an > adjustment in > taxes? Because re-sellers are taking a smaller > mark-up? > > David Ritchie, > Portland, Oregon > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, > vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit > www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html