Fill It, Don't Spill It

Not all gas stations in Paris look like this, but enough do that it makes me slightly nervous. I wonder how often people plow into roadside pumps, setting off massive gas-fueled fires. Not as many as I'd imagine, luckily.

If you click on the picture, or have very, very good eyesight, you'll see that a few different types of gas are advertised. SP or S/Plomb stands for "sans plomb," meaning unleaded. Gasoil and gazole both mean diesel, and not listed here is essence, which is regular gas to us. Notice how high the octane numbers are: 95 and 98. Since octane levels are measured slightly differently in Europe than in the US, these both correspond to what we'd call "premium" unleaded (91-93).

A liter of diesel here costs anywhere from 1.049 to 1.250 euros per liter. That's around 4 to 4.75 euros per gallon, which is around $5.76 to $6.84. Ouch. I'm no expert, but I think the government keeps it that high on purpose (using taxes). Being carless (but not careless) I can't say I mind. Bring on the carbon taxes! Public transportation all the way!

Even if you hate carbon taxes, give it up to the French government for making it easy to find the cheapest gas around, which must do something to promote competition and reduce prices.

Marianne looks on proudly.