As of March 16, the price of Brent crude oil is trending around $98 per barrel. WTI crude is a bit less at approximately $95.50. Both are significantly down from record highs over $130 a barrel just a week ago. Gas prices haven't fallen in the same manner, with the US Energy Information Administration showing a jump of 71 cents over the last two weeks. Drivers in the United States are paying an average of $4.31 per gallon for regular unleaded.
Gas prices in the States are indeed at record highs, but how does that compare to prices in other parts of the world? A quick look at globalpetrolprices.com offers insight into the current state of fuel costs from all corners of the world. The website collects data from multiple independent sources in each country to provide a weekly average for most areas. Since we can't verify those specific sources, it's possible the data could vary slightly from information posted elsewhere.
However, the website offers conversions between gallons and liters with pricing in numerous currencies. As such, it provides an apples-to-apples look at the general state of gas prices around the world, and the data is certainly interesting.
As you'd expect, the Middle East enjoys the lowest costs while European countries are paying the most. A gallon of gas in Germany is just over $9.00, but jump over to Kuwait and it's $1.30. In South America, Colombia is paying $2.36 per gallon but it's $4.93 in Brazil. Australians are paying upwards of $5.37 per gallon; Canada's average is $5.93, but in Europe, Spain currently checks in at $7.62. The UK is at $8.05, France is $8.23, and Italy is clocking $9.08 a gallon. Venture north and the prices go even higher.
As for the absolute cheapest gas price, Venezuela tops the list with a reported cost of just $0.09. It should be noted that the price is a monthly average instead of weekly, and there's no context for the sources used to gather the info. On the other end, Hong Kong is paying the most by a wide margin, with a reported weekly average of $10.89 per gallon. Yikes.
Here are the 10 highest and lowest average gas prices per country currently being reported. Note, this list only includes countries with weekly reported averages, hence Venezuela isn't included.
| Country | Average Price Per Gallon (USD, Least Expensive) |
| Algeria | $1.21 |
| Kuwait | $1.30 |
| Russia | $1.63 |
| Malaysia | $1.84 |
| Bolivia | $2.06 |
| Qatar | $2.18 |
| Egypt | $2.28 |
| Oman | $2.35 |
| Saudi Arabia | $2.35 |
| Colombia | $2.36 |
| Country | Average Price Per Gallon (USD, Most Expensive) |
| Portugal | $8.40 |
| Iceland | $8.40 |
| Denmark | $8.50 |
| Greece | $8.74 |
| Norway | $8.83 |
| Italy | $9.08 |
| Germany | $9.12 |
| Finland | $9.20 |
| Netherlands | $9.20 |
| Hong Kong | $10.89 |
With oil prices trending downward, will gasoline prices drop as quickly as they rose? It will be interesting to see where the averages land next week, but according to AAA (which offers daily reporting in the US), regular gasoline prices have dropped approximately $0.01 – one cent – in the last 24 hours.
