Drivers around the world are being pummeled by the effects of record gas prices.

Americans are shell-shocked at $4-a-gallon gas. But consider France, where a gallon of petrol runs nearly $10. Or Turkey, where itÕs more than $11.
According to AP, drivers around the world are being pummeled by the effects of record gas prices. And now some are hitting back, staging strikes and protests around the world to demand that governments do more to ease the pain.
ItÕs a growing problem in a world thatÕs increasingly mobile and more vulnerable than ever to the cost of crude oil, which is racing higher by the day and showing no signs of stopping.
As oil soars, the effect on drivers can vary widely. Taxes and subsidies that differ from nation to nation are the main reasons, along with limits in oil refining capacity and hard-to-reach places that drive up shipping costs.
In Europe and Japan, for example, high taxes have accustomed drivers to staggering gas prices. As a result, plenty of European adults never learn to drive, preferring cheap mass transit to getting behind the wheel.
Those who do drive are still testing new pain thresholds. And it would be worse in Europe if the strong euro werenÕt cushioning the blow.
On the other hand, in emerging economies such as China and India, government subsidies shield consumers. But that means governments themselves have to find a way to afford the soaring market prices for oil.
Increasingly, people around the world are reaching the boiling point--and itÕs not just drivers.
Fishermen in Spain and Portugal launched nationwide strikes Friday, keeping their trawlers and commercial boats docked at ports. In Madrid, demonstrators handed out 20 tons of fish in a bid to win support from the public.
In Spain, European UnionÕs most important producer of fish, the fishing confederation estimates fuel prices have gone up 320 percent in the past five years--so high many fishermen can no longer afford to take their boats out.
The world is driving more than ever: There are 887 million vehicles in the world, up from 553 million just 15 years ago, according to London consultancy Global Insight. It estimates the figure will be 1 billion four years from now.
In Europe, the high tax burden means crude prices make up a smaller part of the retail cost of gas.
ÒThe pain of a rise in prices is much less in Europe because we may be paying a lot more here, but the rise in a percentage sense is a lot smaller,Ó said Julius Walker, oil analyst at the International Energy Agency.
The United States, with its relatively low taxes, is considered to have retail prices closer to what energy data charts call the Òreal costÓ of gasoline--closely linked to the price of oil.
So as oil prices have soared, US gas prices have soared along with them.
Prices for regular unleaded gas have risen from $1.47 a gallon in May 2003 to more than $3.96 now, a jump of nearly 170 percent. In the same period, the most popular grade of gas in France rose by just over 90 percent--a relatively gentle climb.
Americans are driving less--about 11 billion fewer miles in March 2008 than March 2007, a drop of about 4 percent, according to the Schork Report newsletter. It was the first drop in March driving in almost three decades.
Nations that produce huge amounts of oil arenÕt necessarily in better shape.
Russia is the worldÕs second-leading producer of oil, but gas there comes to about $3.68 a gallon--about the same as in the United States, where workers earn about six times as much money.
Much of the Russian cost comes from taxes, which run between 60 and 70 percent. Limited refining capacity and the costs of transporting gasoline across the countryÕs vast expanse also push up prices. ItÕs not that bad everywhere.
In Venezuela, long-held government subsidies and bountiful supplies have made the people think of cheap fuel as a birthright. ItÕs a veritable wonderland for gas guzzlers--12 cents per gallon. Consumers there are snapping up SUVs.
For solutions to the oil crisis, policymakers in less oil-rich nations are looking to Brazil, where ethanol made from sugarcane is widely available to the nationÕs 190 million people.
Eight out of every 10 new cars sold there are flex-fuel models that run on pure ethanol, gas or any combination of the two. Ethanol in Sao Paulo is running about half the price of gas, which is $5.67 per gallon.

A new energy agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan linking a planned oil pipeline to AzerbaijanÕs Baku was ratified by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev yesterday, marking an opportunity for Turkey to market Caspian Sea oil to the rest of the world.
Under the agreement, Kazakhstan will transport oil through the new Eksene-Kuruk pipeline, to be constructed, and also via tankers, to Baku, the starting point of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which passes through Georgia and terminates in Turkey, Todayszaman reported.
KazakhstanÕs KazMunai Gaz and AzerbaijanÕs state-owned oil company have been negotiating since 2002 for ways to make possible the integration of Kazakh oil to the BTC.
The agreement was finalized on May 26, when the Kazakh parliament ratified the deal. The agreement entered into force with NazarbayevÕs final approval yesterday.
Under the new deal, a new 730-kilometer pipeline running from KazakhstanÕs Eskene region to Kuruk will be constructed. Oil will be transported from the Kuruk port to Baku via tanker. Once pumped into the BTC there, Kazakh oil will then go to Ceyhan in Turkey, increasing the amount of oil arriving in Ceyhan to 75 million tons a year--up 50 percent from the current 50 million.
The BTC, which began operating in 2006, is 1,767 kilometers long, with 443 kilometers of it passing through Azeri land, 248 through Georgia and 1,076 through Turkey.
The Eskene-Kuruk-Baku pipeline, expected to be completed in 2013, will have a pumping capacity of 1.6 million barrels a day, compared to the BTCÕs current capacity (as of May 28) of 1 million barrels per day. The pipeline has been operating for two years.
The BTC is owned by BP, 30.1 percent; Azerbaijan BTC, 25 percent; Chevron, 8.9 percent; Statoil, 8.71 percent; the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), 6.53 percent; ENI, 5 percent; Total, 5 percent; Itocuhu, 3.4 percent; INPEX, 2.5 percent; ConocoPhillips, 2.5 percent; and Hess, 2.36 percent. Russia sees the new pipeline as an attempt to weaken its regional influence.