The oil barrel half full: US-NZ petrol pump price comparison

$2 a litre fears: Crude oil prices hit the record level of US$100 per barrel on Wednesday, breaking through that to hit $100.09 late on Thursday and set a new record.

But that's US dollars. It's really a crisis for our American friends because it is their currency weakness that is the main problem, and using NZ as a comparison I will make the case that it is quantifiably half their problem.

NZ pump prices 2007: +23%
start NZ$1.43 per litre - last NZ$1.76 = +33c

US pump prices 2007: +41%
start US$2.20 per gallon - last US$3.10 = +90c

It sounds nasty for our American friends, but the American AA's fuel gauge report says yesterday's average pump price per gallon of Premium gasoline was US$3.382. divide by 3.7854118 = US$0.8934 per litre divide by the approximate current exchange rate of 0.77 = NZ$1.16 per litre. Not the end of days, but we're getting there swiftly enough.

This chart is for the US (US$ per gallon averages). Can't find a NZ one.