Why Gasoline Prices Have Soared Five Times in 20 Years?
Why has gasoline prices in the United States quintupled in about 20 years?
With crude oil prices continuing to rise worldwide, gasoline prices in Japan are at their highest level in seven years. it is continuing. Under such circumstances, the United States announced the release of strategic oil reserves, and the Japanese government also announced the release of national stockpiles for the first time in history. Given the various effects of gasoline prices, how have gasoline prices in Japan and the United States changed over the past 20 years? [Image] Ride this when gasoline prices soar!? Toyota releases 1.65 million yen EV! (26 sheets)
Gasoline prices soaring all over the world, Japan continues to be at a high level. (The picture is a gas station in Tokyo at the end of October 2021)
The gasoline price as of November 15, 2021 announced by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (the national average retail price of 1 liter of regular gasoline announced on November 17) is 168.9 yen. By the way, according to the agency's data, the lowest price since 2000 was 98 yen in February 2002, and in the latter half of the 1990s there were gas stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area with actual prices in the 80 yen range. In other words, the current gasoline price is more than double what it was in the late 1990s. However, there are places where gasoline prices are much higher than in Japan. "That's America." The author (Kumiko Kato) has been staying on the west coast of the United States since the end of October 2021 to cover the SEMA Show and the Los Angeles Auto Show, but the thing that surprised me the most in America after two years was the price of gasoline. In high places around Los Angeles, the regular price is over $5 per gallon (3.7 liters), and the premium price is in the high $5 range. This is around 165 yen per liter when converted to Japanese yen at 114 yen per dollar, which is almost the same as in Japan. In the 1990s and early 2000s, when I first visited the mainland United States to cover the SEMA Show, the lowest price per gallon of gasoline was less than $1, such as 95-99 cents. A gallon of mineral water cost about $1, so gasoline was cheaper than water at the time. At the time, gasoline was around 100 yen per liter in Japan, but I was very envious of the American gasoline price of 25-30 yen per liter. That's what it is now in 2021. Gasoline prices in the United States have soared to more than five times what they were 20 years ago. "What if gasoline prices were five times higher in Japan?" If it were five times the cheapest around 80 yen in the late 1990s, it would be 400 yen per liter. At this point, it seems likely that more and more people will give up their gasoline-powered vehicles and replace them with electric vehicles.