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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

If you think gas is cheap in U.S., look what it costs in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Ahmed al-Ghaith pulled his Dodge Durango into a gas station in central Riyadh and told the attendant to fill it up. In a country where gas sells for 45 cents a gallon, that cost him $12.

With global oil prices plummeting, you might think people in Saudi Arabia, a nation synonymous with oil, where 90 percent of government revenue comes from holes drilled in its majestically profitable sands, would be freaking out.

But at a busy downtown gas station one day recently, there was not a whiff of concern among the drivers of the stream of Audis, Cadillacs, Mercedes-Benzes, Dodges and Chevys pulling up to the pumps in a land where government-subsidized gas is as cheap as water.

“Personally, it doesn’t affect me a bit,” said Ghaith, 49, who works in a bookstore and spends about $40 a month fueling his big American-made SUV. “It might affect the government in the future — maybe they will have to cut back on their big projects. But it’s no problem for me.”

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but you have to live in a &#@%hole. I would rather live in the underbelly of a porta john, outside of Ravens stadium and pay $100 per gallon, than live in the middle east.

Anonymous said...

I would rather have cheap gas in the u. s. $.14 cents a gallon.

Anonymous said...

as they RAPE us stupid americans.

Anonymous said...

It's on it's way back up here.

Anonymous said...

You don't have to live their for cheap gas. We are very overtaxed in this country and most of our gas price is to pay for Atate and Fedwral taxes.

Anonymous said...

Cheaper than water. Bought a gallon of drinking water at the store lately?

Anonymous said...

Ghaith sounds like those "folks" who didn't really care about Obamacare because "it doesn't affect me"