Life's a gas. And then you pay

Saultites have a lot to be thankful for today but gas prices may not be one of those things.

While we don't quite have the highest price in the province, according to Ontario Gas Prices, ours are pretty up there.

Even after the price dropped on Friday from a single and rarely varying price of $1.349 across town to $1.339 across town (with the exception of the Husky station on Trunk Road at $1.338) the Sault's prices are still way above the provincial average of $1.197 and not very far from prices in far Northern Ontario and Thunder Bay.

The highest gas price in Ontario today is found at the Shell station in the Upsala area.

That's a whopping $1.559.

Today's lowest gas price in Ontario is found at the Bear Creek Gas Bar in the area of Muncey and it's a balmy $1.029 per litre.

But how does that compare to the world?

Well, in Venezuala folks can buy a litre of gas for about 2 cents.

Yes - we checked in several places. Really. 2 cents a litre.

Apparently, petrol is so heavily subsidized in Venezula that it's literally cheaper than air.

GlobalPetrolPrices puts Canada's average gas price at $1.43 a litre, significantly higher than the Sault's prices.

But the most expensive place to buy gas in the world is an obscene $2.64 a litre.

Back in July it cost $2.74 to buy a litre of gas in Norway.

So, yes, it could always be worse.

The top ten most expensive countries in which to buy gas are Portugal, Israel, the UK, Greece, Hong Kong, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Norway.

Prices in these countries range from $2.25 to $2.65 per litre.

The least expensive places to buy gas in the world are  Venezuela, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iran, Qatar, Algeria with prices ranging from the afore-mentioned 2 cents per litre to 31 cents per litre.

As folks consider driving back to places outside of the Sault, they may also be considering a trip across the river to gas up.

The average price per litre (in Canadian dollars) in the United States today is $1.03.

Right now, in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, gas prices range from $3.26 to $3.38 a gallon in US dollars.

That works out to about $1.02 (Canadian) per litre.

And don't forget the cost to cross the bridge into Sault Ste. Marie, MI went up 10 cents (Canadian) to $3.80 on October 1.