Gasoline Prices And Octane Ratings
Nov 29th, 2005 by Don Ray
I see that today’s Dallas Morning News is talking about the price of gasoline going down again. Here is today’s’ prices in Dallas.
Here in David the prices will change this Thursday. Currently the price for regular octane is $2.50. Many people comparing the price of gas in the States with Panama will probably make a mistake and not compare the equivalent octane ratings.
In Panama Regular is 91 octane. That is Premium in Texas. Texas has three grades 87/89/91. Panama has two 91/95. Why anyone buys 95 here is beyond my comprehension. The difference is substantial at the pump and you can’t even buy 95 octane in the US.
So for today’s prices it is $2.50 in David, Chiriqui in Panama vs. $2.30 in Texas. Not bad considering the difference in distance to the refineries.
Prices are usually at least 6 cents cheaper per gallon in Panama City than in David.
Note: Henry’s Comment to this post adds information I didn’t know and a more accurate comparison would be $2.50 in David vs. $2.10 in Texas.
Good Morning Panama, Here in Virginia prices for gasoline are about 10 to 15 cents more than in Dallas. Wild weather here today. 64 degrees outside at this time of day. They are catching it in the midwest so it will not be long before here. I am going to the pictures right now. Not sure how I find the most viewed but will work on it and report back. Dick
People are really getting gassed at the pump aren’t they!
Actually Panama’s 91 octane is closer to the US 87, maybe a tad higher. Panama uses the European octane rating system which returns higher numbers than the US system. Subtract 4 to get the US octane rating.
Henry
Thanks for clearing that up Henry. I had wondered. None the less, I bet the 95 octane isn’t being purchased much here anymore. In the states, most people that have done any investigation decide that 87 is good enough.
Diesel is very much used in Panama. It is also about 20 cents cheaper than regular.
In the US now, diesel is usually 20 cents MORE than premium.
Net result is that diesel in Panama is a good value, both kilometerage as well as price-wise.
That is true Reggie. I just haven’t figured out if the difference in fuel price offsets the increase in the initial purchase of a diesel engine and the reported extra maintance prices. I understand that the 2007 Honda CR-V will offer a diesel and am wondering that very question.
A lot of people buy 95 octane. Remember that most of the cars sold in Panama are not US spec and octane requirements may not be the same. The Honda dealer told my wife when she bought her Civic to use only 95, and my Chevrolet Aveo doesn’t run well on 91. My 1990 5.0 Mustang (sadly gone) ran just fine on 91, as does my 93 Tempo V6.
I assume the Aveo is Korean since the Kia dealer said all the cars they sold including the Chevrolet came from Korea. I am surprised at the Honda Civic since in the states they will run fine on 87 octane. I had a Acura TX that I never put anything in but 87 and it ran great.