Tim Blair

"The U.S. government paid even more last year for Iraqis' gasoline — between $1.59 and $1.70 per gallon — when the imports were contracted to Halliburton, the Texas oil services giant formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney"

Sigh. AP. They just cannot resist the temptation to tack that little clause onto any mention of Halliburton.

Hmm, with $500 million, couldn't the US have built a refinery in Iraq? Or am I missing something?

That's still more than double the price in Venzuela- 2.3 cents per litre.

They mostly use it for making Molotov cocktails.

Harry - you are comparing gallons to liters which means to buy a gallon of gas in Venezuela it wd cost approx $0.10/gallon or twice as much as the cost in Iraq.

Harry - you are comparing gallons to liters which means to buy a gallon of gas in Venezuela it wd cost approx $0.10/gallon or twice as much as the cost in Iraq.

Which is still US$1.95 less than what I'm paying right now.

Damnit, Bush, where's all that cheap oil we supposedly went to war for?

/end LLL mode

cheshirecat

1 US Gallon = 3.785 litres
1 Imperial Gallon = 4.546 litres
I hope that helps.

You're right. What a blunder.

Ouch. That stings, when I'm paying anywhere from $1.80 to $2.08 per gallon.

I'm with PJ. Couldn't Halliburton build them a frickin' refinery and teach them how to run it? Although, I suppose if they did, Europe and the American media would start screaming: "See! It was all about oil after all!"

Jesus what do we pay?

Its about what AU$0.98/L of reg. unleaded atm (at least near me).

At 3.785L/ US Gal. thats 0.98 x 3.785 = AU$3.71. In US dollars $2.56 :(

Now lets do that backwards - taking your most expensive price Rebecca. US$2.08 = AU$3.01

So thats now AU$3.01/US Gal. Now devide by 3.785 gives us $0.795/L

Damn, you know THATS CHEAP. How god damn much tax do we pay on fuel?

i'd be surprised if there weren't plans to build a refinery there. but it takes time to build a refinery, and they need gas now.

thus, buy gas now build refinery later.

If memory serves Iraqi's werent pating bugger all for petrol before the war either

Troy — When they could get it.

You know, we should be thinking about invading these countries with the cheap gas... they must have some terrorists hiding somewhere...

*snicker*

I'm well aware that in the States we pay just about the cheapest prices for gasoline (petrol to some of you) going. But it still hurts when it jumps from really cheap to not-so-cheap in the space of a couple of months, with the expectation that it's going to go higher and never go down again. Despite our status as rich, burger-eating gas hogs, most of us still have to live within a budget. We'll adjust, of course, but we reserve the right to bitch about it.

Brett, I paid US$2.50 to $2.60 per gallon unleaded while I was in LA/San Diego last month.
When I was in Minneapolis in early May, I paid $1.75 (the high point of the vacation, really), and at home here in Phoenix, the absolute cheapest you can find is $2.13.

Zeropa is constantly expensive. When I was in Germany in 1998, petrol was around DM 1.20 a litre.

Ouch.

Quentin, those were the good old days. :-) It's now up to almost 1.20 Euros per litre here in Germany, one Euro being about 1.96 DM, of course.

Rebecca,

To heck with the Iraqi's, take the $500 million and build the refineries here.
That should replace some of the plants that have
gotten too old and never been replaced.

I just paid $1.86 to tank up.

I also drove around town today in shorts and sandals, by myself, without having to worry about some terrorist asshole threatening me, or shooting me, or killing me with a bomb because I'm a woman, or just because I got in the way of his idiot plan to murder people and cause chaos so his fanatic buddies can take over the country.

Let the Iraqis have their 5-cent gas; I've by far got the better end of the deal.

Great point Barbara, great point. :)

A dollar in Iraq is not the same as a dollar in the US. You can't compare these nominal prices rationally.

Building refinaries in Iraq seems like a good idea, but the project would be a broad, highly valued target. It will take a little time before that one can be taken on.

"To heck with the Iraqi's, take the $500 million and build the refineries here.
That should replace some of the plants that have
gotten too old and never been replaced."

Good luck having this project approved anywhere in any State. John Moore of Useful Tools has illuminating tale how one of the latest plans for building a refinery somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Arizona got scrambled because it of "environmental racism" i.e. planers were trying to build where there were almost no people, but those that live there were not exactly millionaires.

I predict that if prices at the pump keep heading for the $3/gallon, ordinary people will start demanding some real solutions. It may even allow us to open ANWR.

I hope.

Tim Blair - all for user-pays free market economics - except when it comes to the thing that combusts internally combustible engines.

You're growing soft!

Dick Cheney used to work for Halliburton? I wasn't aware of that.