I found this and theres some good points here. The date of this is 4/20/07.
LONDON — Motorists around the world have been paying more for their gasoline over the past month as
falling U.S. stocks of the motor fuel have helped to drive up global oil prices.
Although prices have eased this week, worries persist over tight fuel supply ahead of the U.S. summer driving season starting in late May after government data issued on Wednesday showed gasoline stocks there down for the 10th week running.
"The simple cause every year really is just this inability in the U.S. refining system to produce sufficient gasoline for the summer months," said Ray Holloway, director of the Petrol Retailers Association.
"It started a little earlier this year in the European market because of the problem with fuel quality in the U.K. That just brought forward the expected price increase," Holloway said.
Silicon contamination in gasoline damaged thousands of vehicles in the U.K in late February and early March.
According to figures released by Britain's Automobile Association (AA) on Wednesday, the cost of unleaded gasoline generally rose in March and this week the price hit $8.37 a gallon in the U.K, where a gallon is equivalent to 1.2 U.S. gallons.
"Price pressure will continue to build until the middle of August, because this year we have started from a higher threshold and crude oil is under pressure because of instability," said Holloway.
Drivers in the United States may wince over their seemingly high gasoline prices, but American retail fuel costs are positively inexpensive in light of what motorists elsewhere have to pay.
In the United States last month the average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $2.87, according to worldwide March fuel price data published Wednesday by the U.K.'s Automobile Association.
Contrast that to the adjusted $7.35 it costs Norwegians for a gallon of unleaded, or the $8.37 Britons pay for their petrol, and the American costs are tame.
In the Netherlands drivers pay the equivalent of $7.52 per gallon, more than twice the American average.
Of the 26 European countries quoted in the AA data, none paid less per gallon on average than the United States.
According to Reuters data, gasoline prices were lower than in the United States only in countries where government subsidies play a significant part in cutting prices at the pump.
In Russia, where the government still occasionally tries to cap prices and control consumer gasoline costs, a gallon of gasoline costs a Muscovite the equivalent of $2.78.
To put this in perspective, the average monthly salary in Russia is 11,000 rubles, or $426. To fill up the 32-gallon tank of a 2006 Hummer H2 in Moscow would cost $88 — more than 20% of a Russian's monthly take-home pay.
Now this would make sents, If we (the US people) would spend more on thing MADE IN THE US this would drive up are stocks and oil prices would/should drop right?? I know, I'm up thing arent tie...