-=> Quoting Fernando Semedo to Wes Leatherock <=-
 WL> This is not the case.  I don't know where Portugal gets
 WL> its petroleum from, but it's not the U.S.; even the U.S. doesn't
 WL> get most of its petroleum from the U.S. but from foreign countires.
 FS> Actually when we foreigners (I'm Canadian) refer to the U.S. we not
 FS> only the U.S. government but also U.S. companies. Governments don't
 FS> buy oil, companies like Texaco, Gulf, U.S.A. etc do. There is only two
 FS> companies in Portugal that are European: Shell and BP (British
 FS> Petroleum). All others are American or subsidaries of American oil
 FS> companies. In cities and towns, there are mainly American companies
 FS> selling the petroleum. Shell and BP are on the highways and Autoroutes
 FS> (which you have to pay toll to get on) and sell gas about 5 cents
 FS> cheaper. 
         But the oil does not come from the United States; the
companies headquarted in the U.S. are among the most venerable
multinational companies (well, Shell probably is even older as
a multinational company) and certainly have a global outlook on
things.
         That's why they get their oil from other countries to
sell both in the U.S.A. and in other countries.  When they are
doing business in other countries, they are looking at the market
in that country, not the U.S.A.
 FS> Hear in Canada? There is (I should say was) one Canadian gas company,
 FS> Petro Canada all the others are American. And gas prices are almost
 FS> double what you guys down there have to put up with. 
         But how much of that is taxes?  Even in the U.S.A., there
is a very substantial difference in taxes between different states
and that makes a big difference in gasoline prices.  Canada, I believe,
generally has substantially higher gasoline taxes than most parts of
the U.S.A., although not in a class with the taxes in most European
countries.
~~~ TGWave v1.01 [NR]
--- GEcho 1.11+
---------------