Oil Exporting And Poorer Countries Have Lower Costs For Gasoline – OpEd

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The political class obsession in the wealthy countries to lower emissions with subsidizing expensive and utterly unreliable breezes and sunshine to generate electricity, and divesting in fossil fuels, have already put the cost of electrical power and fuel out of the reach of the poorest in the developed first world countries.

The healthy and wealthy countries of the United States of America, Germany, the UK, and Australia representing 6 percent of the world’s population (505 million vs 7.8 billion) could literally shut down, and cease to exist, and the opposite of what you have been told and believe will take place. Emissions will be exploding from those poorer developing countries.

Simply put, in these healthy and wealthy countries, every person, animal, or anything that causes emissions to harmfully rise could vanish off the face of the earth; or even die off, and global emissions will still explode in the coming years and decades ahead over the population and economic growth of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and Africa.

Richer countries now have higher gasoline prices, while poorer countries and countries that produce and export oil have lower cost for fuels. A review of global petroleum gasoline prices per gallon in U.S. dollars shows the international intelligence and trends of gasoline prices of the wealthy countries that have opted to go “green” at any cost, compared with poorer countries and countries that produce and export oil.

A sampling of richer countries that have higher prices for gasoline per gallon that have gone “green” and import crude oil to meet the demands of their country:

  • UK $8.78 per gallon
  • Germany 7.27
  • Australia 5.48
  • USA 5.01

While gasoline nationwide is at or near all-time highs, California gasoline prices tends to be more than a dollar higher than the USA national average due to excessive State taxes and costly environmental compliance programs, which are dumped onto the posted pricing at the pumps.

When we look outside the few wealthy countries, we see that at least 80 percent of humanity, or more than six billion in this world are living on less  than $10 a day, and billions living with little to no access to electricity, politicians are pursuing the most expensive ways to generate intermittent electricity. Energy poverty is among the most crippling but least talked-about crises of the 21st century. We should not take energy for granted. Expensive electricity and fuels are being borne by those that can least afford living in “energy poverty.”

A sampling of a few poorer countries and oil exporting countries that have lower prices of gasoline per gallon:

  • Malaysia $1.76 per gallon
  • Nigeria 1.58
  • Angola 1.42
  • Kuwait 1.30
  • Algeria 1.19
  • Syria 1.08
  • Iran 0.20 
  • Libya 0.11 
  • Venezuela 0.08 

Before Biden became President, for the first time since Harry Truman was president 70 years ago, we had more crude oil exports than imports. Through the fracking boom in the years before Biden, the U.S. attained crude oil independence status meaning we were no longer held hostage to unstable Petro-powers and the vagaries of foreign energy supplies. Under President Trump, America had an aggressive pro-domestic energy policy, which allowed America to become not only energy independent, which politicians have talked about for decades, but energy dominant. 

Rather than expand oil exploration in America to restore America’s oil independence, President Biden is focused on ridding America of fossil fuels, and is off to visit OPEC nations seeking more oil exports to America. The USA was an oil exporter before Biden took office, but under Biden’s direction, this wealthy country now IMPORTS crude oil from unfriendly foreign countries to meet the demands of the American economy.

California, a state that was virtually independent of imported crude oil from foreign countries in 1995, today is the only state in contiguous America that imports oil, now at more than 60 percent of the needs of the fifth largest economy in the world. At today’s price of crude oil well above $100 per barrel the imported crude oil costs California more than $150 million dollars a day, yes, every day, being paid to oil-rich foreign countries, depriving Californians of jobs and business opportunities, and drivers to pay premium prices for fuel. 

Biden appears to be self-motivated to clone the direction that California has taken over the last few decades. Rather than significantly increase oil production in America, Biden is following California Governor Newsom’s efforts toward further reductions of in-state oil production and placing greater than the current more than 60 percent dependency on oil rich foreign sources, that also have significantly less environmental control than California. Newsom promotes more costs for Californians and more generated emissions for the world.

The poorer countries that cannot subsidize themselves out of a paper bag, and the countries that produce and export oil, have lower costs for gasoline and may also be less incentivized to seek EV’s for their cost-effective transportation needs. 

Shockingly, just to reduce emissions to supposedly stop climate change, President Biden is following the lead of Germany, UK, Australia, and California that now have among the highest costs for electricity and gasoline along inflation being borne by all.

Ronald Stein

Ronald Stein, Founder and Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure of PTS Advance, headquartered in Irvine, California.

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