According to Yahoo news, gas prices have risen 41 days in a row. Refinery problems are shown as high prices but as you know imagine there are big players in gas industry. Some people say that oil demand is still weak. So how this is happening? If demand is weak then prices should go down. What’s your opinion?

I think your right. I work at a gas station. I've seen it all. I've heard it all. And I still get B****ed at about gas prices going up, even though its not my fault. But anyways. I've seen gas prices rise at least 50 cents in the last 2 weeks. And we've also seen our customer count (how many people come to our store in one day) go down drastically due to the high gas prices. So that means that demand is getting weaker and people are only using the gas to go back and forth to work and not do other activities that they would normally do when the gas prices are lower.

I think, that the inflation is actually making the gas prices go up again. Think about it. If your gas prices go up, that means truck drivers will have to pay more for the fuel they need to deliver the goods to stores to sell them which in turn then raises grocery prices and other goods to offset the cost of paying the delivery driver for the gas they used to get from the warehouse to your store to drop off your load.

I guess where we are, gas costs the equivalent of about 8$ per gallon. What are you guys paying?

$2.55 a gallon (that is in the mid-west of US)

Hilarious :/

I thought things were cheap when we drove up the US east coast. I'd never travelled such a distance paying so little for petrol. But then again, you guys are expected to drive much further on a daily basis. Everything is a bit closer and more compact in western Europe.

Here it's at about the same level Vik posted.

That explains all the big cars in America!!!

Butterfinger- do you think that if gas prices rose, that people would buy more economical-to-run cars over there? I think that may be a good thing for the environment.

It's definitely true what Nay says, you guys drive a lot longer distances than we do here.

They already do-- there's a reason all American car manufacturers are selling poorly, and it's not just the struggling economy.


(Though the concept of "small car" to an American is still medium sized to a European. Kinda like how size S t-shirts from the US are often the same as size M here :P Seems that that's a thing of the past though)

I've been actually seeing a lot more eco friendly cars come through my gas station. And people who used to have SUV's now are trading in for a smaller more efficient SUV that uses less gas.

One thing to remember- americans love power. most people do not want to give that up to be more "eco-friendly". However as mentioned above, they are trading into more "fuel efficient" SUV's (still not great but heh.) Where I live another reason for having not very gas friendly cars are people dont like to drive in the snow in a smaller vehicle, or up mountains, or go off-roading. Hybrid cars do TERRIBLE going up mountains, so noone around here has one.

Also, if someone is willing to pay a few extra grand for a larger car, they are willing to pay some more for the lower performing gas mileage as well.

As for me, i like sedans. Hate small cars, and not fond of SUVs or trucks. but a good mid-size sedan is just right :D