Norwegians are now paying more than NOK 13 a litre (nearly USD 11 a gallon) for gasoline in many markets, and that's likely to rise.
Market analyst Torbjørn Kjus at DnB Markets told newspaper Dagbladet that he expects oil prices, which hit USD 135 a barrel this week, to hit USD 200 a barrel. That would translate to nearly NOK 17 a litre for gasoline (USD 13.60 a gallon).
Motorists aren't happy. More than 67,000 took part in an organized protest via the Internet this week, making threats that they’d boycott Norway's two largest gasoline station chains, Statoil and Shell. They also signed petitions calling for lower prices, and the threatened boycott action was spreading quickly via e-mail.
Norway's gasoline prices became the highest in Europe this week, somewhat ironic since Norway is an oil-producing nation. But government policies have always aimed to discourage use of private cars in Norway by heavily taxing the cars themselves and the gasoline they need to operate.
While gasoline prices have risen in line with rising oil prices – which mostly benefit Norway's economy – the brunt of the per-litre price remains the taxes imposed by the state.
