Why is gas so cheap in south america?

Question

went to argentina last month and gass was 14 cents a gallon

Answer 1

You sure it was a gallon or per liter??

Gallon is not a common measurement outside of the USA.

I know for a fact that Colombia ...gas is not cheap.....its actually a luxary to drive a car constantly in Colombia......I think they pay more than a few states in the USA......

Venezuela and Brasil will most likely have the cheapest gas....Venezuela is a oil powerhouse and Brasil have switched to an Ethanol based gas .....

Answer 2

Gas is like $5 a gallon in Argentina.  You obviously didn't buy there or were looking at the butane (pressured natural gas) or by the liter (even then it is more than 14 cents a gallon).  If gas were 14 cents a gallon in Argentina, they would have had an energy crisis already with all that they use.

Colombia exports oil and it is still $4 a gallon there, Brazil is now a net exporter and it's $5 a gallon there, too.  Uruguay and Chile aren't cheap, either.

That leaves only venezuela, that is the only place which is cheap in all of the Americas.

Answers 2 & 3 are nonsense.  The peso did not go down to 10 cents on the dollar.  The worst was 2002 when it started at 1.80 and finished at 3.30, not great but not 1:1 to 10:1, either. even if it did, it doesn't change the fact that gas is made form oil, which is a worldwide priced commodity.

The taxes and regulation is wrong, as well. venezuela susbidizes, they do not just "not regulate".  Venezuela would hardly be a case study for "lack of governmental inetrference" in the free market today.

Answer 3

sweet

Answer 4

I can speak for Venezuela... a full tank there is about 75 cents... maybe a bit more. And that's because it's one of the worlds largest petroleum producers in the world (3rd one a couple of years back, not sure now) so as you can imagine if they produce it... it's very cheap :)

Answer 5

Argentina is rather a special case as you cant compare prices there in terms of dollar equivalent.  A few years back their inflation rate was so huge a peso = a dollar at the beginning of one year and was equivalent to 10 cents at the end of the tear.  Compare their gas price in pesos to their salary.

Answer 6

Argentina  and Venezuela may have cheap prices for gas but let me tell you that the rest of the countries dont!! So gas is not cheap in South America per se, it is cheap in some countries. Brazil has ethanol and its cheaper but Peru and Chile have quite expensive gas.

Answer 7

South America probably does not have the government regulations and taxes we have here in the States.

All that drives up the cost, the government's greedy hands taking what they do not earn.

I have been saying this a long time no regulations equal high competition, high quality and low prices.