<p>There has been rampant smuggling from Venezuela to Colombia - see links below. This is the basis for <a href="https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/15103/supply-demand-of-smuggling">my question</a>.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/video/colombia-black-market-gas-trade-/BC14C5B7-69A0-4A0E-84B2-5377A7FDF79B.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.wsj.com/video/colombia-black-market-gas-trade-/BC14C5B7-69A0-4A0E-84B2-5377A7FDF79B.html</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-pays-price-for-smuggling-1402271308" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-pays-price-for-smuggling-1402271308</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-to-reopen-colombia-border-1470962864" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-to-reopen-colombia-border-1470962864</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-22T23:42:05.193Z
2017-01-23T00:05:55.353Z
2017-04-13T12:51:38.253Z
John B
<p>I don't understand how petro states can have crazy low gasoline prices without smugglers exporting the gasoline and selling it elsewhere.</p>

<p>For example, in Venezuela the domestic price of gasoline is about 5 cents per gallon (compared to the current US retail price of around $2.10 per gallon). In other words, the US retail price is about 40 times the Venezuelan price. That is a pretty big incentive for a smuggler. There are other countries which have similar subsidized prices.</p>

<p>How does Venezuela prevent smugglers from just loading up trucks with gasoline and exporting it? They don't even have to ship it out of Venezuela. They could truck it across the border into one of the neighboring countries and sell it there or export it from the neighbor. Venezuela must have some mechanism for controlling who is receiving the cheap gas and preventing them from exporting it, what is it?</p>

<p>As a second question along the same lines, how do they prevent people from converting the oil into a different product and then exporting that product. So, for example, oil can be converted into polypropylene pellets. A person could take the (virtually) free oil, convert it into polypropylene and then export the polypropylene. How do they prevent this from happening?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-22T21:48:04.580Z
The last time you have [accepted an answer](http://economics.stackexchange.com/users/1448/lassie-fair?tab=questions) was over a year ago. Please consider those putting in the time and effort to answer your questions and accept some answers.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-22T21:53:14.133Z
@denesp yeah, maybe I will consider doing that when people who are writing answers to my question, upvote my question and make a useful answer to the question. are you a bot or a human being?
Lassie Fair
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-22T22:31:58.767Z
Human bot. To my knowledge I have not answered any of your questions by the way. I am afraid I don't see why replyers need to upvote your question. Should the answer not be judged on its merits? But clicking on the link I also see [some](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/12529/why-is-sugar-cane-still-harvested-manually-in-brazil) [questions](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/11537/how-did-portugal-draw-down-their-interest-rates-on-pubic-debt) [that](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/12364/credit-market-debt-is-200-trillion) have upvotes and answers.
Giskard
<international-trade><oil><subsidies>
How are petro states able to maintain gasoline subsidies without black market export smuggling?
Lassie Fair
# How are petro states able to maintain gasoline subsidies without black market export smuggling?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-22)

I don't understand how petro states can have crazy low gasoline prices without smugglers exporting the gasoline and selling it elsewhere.

For example, in Venezuela the domestic price of gasoline is about 5 cents per gallon (compared to the current US retail price of around $2.10 per gallon). In other words, the US retail price is about 40 times the Venezuelan price. That is a pretty big incentive for a smuggler. There are other countries which have similar subsidized prices.

How does Venezuela prevent smugglers from just loading up trucks with gasoline and exporting it? They don't even have to ship it out of Venezuela. They could truck it across the border into one of the neighboring countries and sell it there or export it from the neighbor. Venezuela must have some mechanism for controlling who is receiving the cheap gas and preventing them from exporting it, what is it?

As a second question along the same lines, how do they prevent people from converting the oil into a different product and then exporting that product. So, for example, oil can be converted into polypropylene pellets. A person could take the (virtually) free oil, convert it into polypropylene and then export the polypropylene. How do they prevent this from happening?

**Tags:** international-trade, oil, subsidies
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The last time you have [accepted an answer](http://economics.stackexchange.com/users/1448/lassie-fair?tab=questions) was over a year ago. Please consider those putting in the time and effort to answer your questions and accept some answers.  
> **username_0**: @denesp yeah, maybe I will consider doing that when people who are writing answers to my question, upvote my question and make a useful answer to the question. are you a bot or a human being?  
> **username_1**: Human bot. To my knowledge I have not answered any of your questions by the way. I am afraid I don't see why replyers need to upvote your question. Should the answer not be judged on its merits? But clicking on the link I also see [some](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/12529/why-is-sugar-cane-still-harvested-manually-in-brazil) [questions](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/11537/how-did-portugal-draw-down-their-interest-rates-on-pubic-debt) [that](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/12364/credit-market-debt-is-200-trillion) have upvotes and answers.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-01-22. Score: 2

There has been rampant smuggling from Venezuela to Colombia - see links below. This is the basis for [my question](https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/15103/supply-demand-of-smuggling).

<http://www.wsj.com/video/colombia-black-market-gas-trade-/BC14C5B7-69A0-4A0E-84B2-5377A7FDF79B.html>

<http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-pays-price-for-smuggling-1402271308>

<http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-to-reopen-colombia-border-1470962864>


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