Car Guru writes for DriveAway Holidays, DriveAway Holidays New Zealand and DriveAway Holidays Blog
Ask a driver virtually anywhere in the world, what they think of fuel prices, and the answer will almost always be the same; “they’re too expensive”. While there is a global price set by the cost of crude oil, which seems to be on the rise most of the time, the range of prices across the world is quite surprising. We may complain that our petrol, LPG and diesel prices are too expensive here in Australia, there are indeed many places that pay far more than us, making it incredibly hard to own a car, and there are also some that pay very little, making them ideal destinations for driving holidays and road trips.
Here in Australia, the price of petrol on average seems to vary roughly between $1.20 and $1.70 AUD per litre, changing quite frequently. And while we do complain, it’s not too bad at all really, considering the price paid by some other countries. In many EU countries fuel is around the €1.70 to €2.00 Euro per litre mark, which works out at around $2.80 to $3.50 AUD, or roughly double what we pay for petrol here.
Although if we look at prices across the whole world, even EU countries with the highest fuel costs don’t come close to some, with the winner for dearest fuel being Sierra Leone, where motorists pay 14,400 Leones, or $5.70 AUD, per litre!
Now at the other end of the scale, we find some countries where the government has taken a different approach. Here, rather than adding high levels of tax to fuel and profiteering off motorists, the governments subsidise the cost of petrol, effectively making it far cheaper than the global standard. It’s no surprise to find many of these countries in the middle east, where much oil has come from over the years, and indeed Saudi Arabia at $0.14 AUD and Kuwait at $0.25 AUD per litre are among countries with unbelievable petrol costs.
While not the most popular destinations for travel, nearby Egypt also has ultra cheap petrol, at $0.38 AUD per litre, something many travellers don’t realise. Perhaps many more would do a self drive holiday if they did!
Across the globe though, we find the country which seems to have the cheapest petrol in the world, Venezuela. At roughly $0.05 AUD per litre, you could fill 25 to 30 cars’ tanks there for the same price as filling one car’s tank here. Quite the bargain really! While they will no doubt end up with way too many cars on the road, and not to mention terrific levels of smog and pollution, for now it’s all swell, and an unbeatable place for a self drive holiday.
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