This is how South Africa's petrol prices compare to the rest of the world

From midnight tonight, a litre of petrol in South Africa will cost 82 cents more while diesel is going up 85 cents, it’s the highest South Africans have ever paid for fuel so we decided to compare this costs in relation to the rest of the world:

The average price of petrol around the world is R14.75 per litre, for this week. However, there is a 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. 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 petrol is vastly different.

“The usage and pricing of petrol results from factors such as crude oil prices, processing and distribution costs, local demand, the strength of local currencies, local taxation, and the availability of local sources of gasoline (supply). Since fuels are traded worldwide, the trade prices are fairly similar.”

The price paid by consumers largely reflects national pricing policy. Some regions, such as Europe and Japan, impose high taxes on petrol; others, such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, subsidize the cost.

From midnight tonight, a litre of petrol in South Africa will cost 82 cents more while diesel is going up 85 cents. It’s the highest South Africans have ever paid for fuel so we decided to compare this cost in relation to the rest of the world.

GlobalPetrolPrices.com publish the most wide-ranging and reliable data on retail fuel prices around the world tracking over 150 countries on a weekly basis.

“The core of the project is a collection of information sources for each country that include government agencies such as the Ministries of Energy, Transport, or Commerce; fuel price transparency mechanisms; local automobile associations; consumer advocacy and protection groups; international fuel companies such as Shell and Total; local petroleum monopolies; multilateral organizations; and the local media. We check the consistency of the data against at least three sources per country and continuously expand the list of sources.”

In their most recent report it can be seen that Venezuela pays the least for petrol at $0.01 per litre which roughly works out to 13 cents (in South African Rands) while Icelanders can pay up to R27 for the same litre. South Africa fall in the high middle ranges but the cost of fuel does not take the cost of living into consideration.