Despite petrol prices rising continuously to their highest levels in years, the money spend on British forecourts is not the highest on the global scale.
Latest figures released by Bloomberg and GlobalPetrolPrices.com reveal that Britain is only just in the top twenty when it comes to the petrol price index, way behind the likes of Hong Kong, Norway and Iceland.
Drivers in Hong Kong pay 165p per litre, a huge 31p jump compared to 2015 when the list was last put together. The cost of living in Scandinavia is notoriously high and it’s no surprise to see both Iceland and Norway occupying second and third places respectively.
“The average price of gasoline around the world is 1.18 U.S. Dollar per litre,” says GlobalPetrolPrices.com. “However, there is substantial difference in these prices among countries. As a general rule, richer countries have higher prices while poorer countries and the countries that produce and export oil have significantly lower prices.
“One notable exception is the U.S. which is an economically advanced country but has low gas prices. The differences in prices across countries are due to the various taxes and subsidies for gasoline. All countries have access to the same petroleum prices of international markets but then decide to impose different taxes. As a result, the retail price of gasoline is different.”
At the other end of the scale is oil-rich country Venezuela, whose drivers are paying just £0.01 per litre! However, that could change in the coming months as the country is going through a financial crisis and the President has promised fuel prices would move closer to international levels.