Where is the World’s Cheapest and Most Expensive Petrol?

Living in the UK, it is natural to feel you are being taken to the cleaners at the pumps. Indeed, the UK is notorious for having some of the most expensive petrol prices in the world, but do we really pay more than motorists in any other country?

The short answer is no, and nor are petrol prices in the UK rising faster than in some corners of the world.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, the past decade has seen petrol prices rise by an average of over 210%. But as petrol prices were hovering at around 15p per litre a decade ago, an increase to around 45p is not exactly the end of the world.

Even so, petrol prices across the Middle East in general have all (technically) skyrocketed over the past decade. In Qatar, Yemen, Bahrain and Oman, prices have increased by 140.4%, 101.6%, 96.7% and 59.2% respectively.

One country to buck the trend in the region is Iraq, where petrol prices decreased around 74% are in the same time period. Having hovered around £1.50 per litre 10 years ago, prices at the pumps had plummeted to just 38p by March 2022.

UK Petrol Prices

COVID-19 had its own impact on petrol prices, after which the war in Ukraine triggered major supply and demand issues across Europe.

In 2013, the highest prices recorded at the pumps in the UK were around £1.56 per litre. Today’s average is only slightly higher – somewhere around £1.62 – but we are nonetheless seeing the kind of volatility that has not been seen in recent history.

At one point, petrol prices at some pumps in the UK spiked to a record high of £2+ over the past few weeks.

If you are searching for the cheapest petrol prices in the world, petrol in Venezuela costs less than a penny per litre – currently around $0.025/£0.019 per litre.

The World’s Cheapest Petrol Prices

As far as things are looking in 2022 for the time being, the cheapest places in the world to fill a vehicle with petrol (on average) are as follows:

Price per Litre ($)

• Venezuela   0.03
• Iran    0.05
• Angola        0.34
• Kuwait        0.35
• Kazakhstan  0.39
• Nigeria        0.40
• Russia         0.43
• Malaysia      0.49
• Iraq    0.51
• Bahrain       0.53
• Bolivia        0.55
• Qatar 0.58
• Egypt 0.60
• Oman          0.62
• Saudi Arab  0.62
• Ethiopia      0.62
• Columbia    0.63
• Kyrgyzstan  0.63
• Belarus        0.66
• Ecuador      0.67

The World’s Most Expensive Petrol

As for the places you will be paying the most at the pumps, these are the places with the priciest petrol in the world right now:

Price per Litre ($)

• Netherlands 2.43
• Finland       2.43
• Germany     2.41
• Italy   2.40
• Norway       2.33
• Greece         2.31
• Denmark     2.25
• Iceland        2.22
• Portugal      2.22
• Israel  2.21
• France         2.18
• Austria        2.18
• Sweden       2.17
• Zimbabwe   2.15
• Singapore    2.15
• Belgium      2.13
• UK    2.13
• Ireland         2.10
• Switzerland           2.09
• Estonia        2.08

Food for thought, just in case you wondered how much other people are paying at the pumps to keep their cars up and running.