Think gas prices are high? Try $11 in Turkey

PARIS -- Americans are shell-shocked at $4-a-gallon gas. But consider France, where a gallon of petrol runs nearly $10. Or Turkey, where it's more than $11.

Drivers around the world are being pummeled by the effects of record gas prices. And now some are hitting back, staging strikes and protests from Europe to Indonesia to demand that governments do more to ease the pain.

It's a growing problem in a world that's 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 made drivers accustomed to staggering gas prices. As a result, plenty of European adults never even bother to 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 weren't cushioning the blow.

On the other hand, in emerging economies such as China and India, government subsidies shield consumers. But that still means governments themselves have to find a way to afford the soaring market prices for oil.

Fishermen in a pinch

Increasingly, people around the world are reaching the boiling point -- and it's not just drivers.

Fishermen in Spain and Portugal began 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 Union's 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.

French fishermen and farmers, who need fuel for trawlers and tractors, say their livelihoods are threatened by soaring prices and have blocked oil terminals around France and shipping traffic on the English Channel to demand government help.

Truckers in Britain and Bulgaria are staging fuel protests, too.

In Europe, the high tax burden means crude prices make up a smaller part of the retail cost of gas.

The United States, with its relatively low taxes, is considered to have retail prices closer to what energy data charts call the "real cost" of gasoline -- closely linked to the price of oil.

So as oil prices have soared, U.S. gas prices have soared along with them.

Oil producers no better

Nations that produce huge amounts of oil aren't necessarily in better shape.

Russia is the world's 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 country's vast expanse also push up prices.

Turkey faces similar problems. It costs $11.29 a gallon there, meaning filling up the tank of a midsize car can reach nearly $200 -- enough to give up on driving and buy a domestic plane ticket.

Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French engineer, despairs over the developing world's rising thirst for shrinking oil resources.

His answer? To rich consumers, at least, he says: Pick up your bike and "stop being petroleum slaves."