Norway has Europe’s highest petrol prices, Russia and Belarus remain cheapest
The cost of filling a car differs across Europe, with drivers in Norway paying more than three times as much for petrol as those in Russia, according to fuel-price data for August 31.
Key points
- Norway tops Europe at €2.56 a litre
- Denmark and Germany also exceed €2 a litre
- Russia and Belarus remain below €1 a litre
The cost of filling a car differs across Europe, with drivers in Norway paying more than three times as much for petrol as those in Russia, according to fuel-price data for August 31.
Norway had the highest price shown on the map, at €2.56 per litre for 95-octane petrol. Denmark followed at €2.48, while Germany stood at €2.20. Finland was also among the more expensive countries at €2.17 a litre. GlobalPetrolPrices' country data confirm Norway's €2.56 and Finland's €2.17 figures for August 31.
Prices were also relatively high across much of Western Europe. France stood at €2.03 a litre, Italy at €2.02, Portugal at €2.02 and the Netherlands at €2.40. The UK was at €1.88 and Spain at €1.78.
Eastern Europe generally had lower prices. Poland was at €1.50, Bulgaria at €1.56 and Ukraine at €1.60. At the bottom of the ranking, Russia was at €0.74 a litre and Belarus at €0.75, making them the cheapest countries shown.
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The difference means a 50-litre fill-up at the prices on the map would cost about €128 in Norway, compared with roughly €37 in Russia.
The gap is not simply about which countries produce oil.
GlobalPetrolPrices says countries generally face similar international crude oil and refined-product prices, but what drivers ultimately pay depends heavily on taxes, distribution costs and government pricing policies. Taxes, particularly fuel excise duties, account for much of the difference between countries.
That helps explain why Norway can be one of Europe's biggest oil producers and still have some of its most expensive petrol. A country's access to oil does not automatically translate into low prices at the pump.
The figures also show how quickly prices can move. Norway's petrol price reached 27.64 Norwegian kroner per litre on August 31, around 29.5% higher than a month earlier and 33.5% higher than a year earlier, according to GlobalPetrolPrices.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
