10 Places Where Gas Is More Expensive Than the U.S.

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- If it's been a while since you filled up, you might be in for a rude awakening. Prices have been rising steadily in the past few weeks on skyrocketing crude oil prices; the cost of a gallon of regular gas stands at $3.57, up 19 cents from a month ago. The rise has given fodder to Republican presidential candidates seeking an angle of economic attack on President Barack Obama and put another wrinkle in Americans' tight budgets.

We can't tell you things are going to get better in the near future, but we can tell you things could be a lot worse. While gas prices seem high in the U.S., other countries are saddled with prices at the pump that would give an American driver a heart attack. To find out where drivers have it worse, we spoke to Airinc, a Cambridge, Mass.-based consulting firm that tracks average gas prices at select major cities around the world. Here are 10 cities where gas prices eclipse the pump prices in America, along with the average retail price for a gallon of gasoline.

Think gas prices are bad where you live? In some countries, the price of a gallon of gas is double.

10th-most expansion: Tokyo
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $6.59
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $7.15

Ninth-most expansion: Berlin
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $7.76
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.34

Eighth-most expansion: Hong Kong
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $7.85
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.30

Seventh-most expansion: Paris
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.06
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.56

Sixth-most expansion: London
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.12
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.35

Fifth-most expansion: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.46
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.55

Fourth-most expansion: Copenhagen, Denmark
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.48
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.77

Third-most expensive: Rome
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.51
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.71

Second-most expensive: Oslo, Norway
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $9.33
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $9.69

Most expensive gas in the world: Asmara, Eritrea
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $9.58
Cost per gallon of premium gas: (Unavailable)

Honorable mention
While these cities all have it worse than the U.S. in the gas department, don't think we're beating the whole world at the pump. Several cities have dirt-cheap gas prices, and unsurprisingly they tend to be in oil-producing countries. In Kuwait City, for instance, a gallon of gas at the pump costs the equivalent of 82 cents, while in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh it's just 45 cents. The clear winner, though, is oil-rich Venezuela, where government subsidies make a gallon of regular gas cost just 6 cents in Caracas.

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