Countries with the most expensive fuel | Greece's case study

[Ultegra134]

Due to the ongoing war, inflation along with fuel prices have skyrocketed among the globe, with households not being able to keep up with the increased living costs. However, the impact of the increased living costs differ from country to country.

Let's take Greece's case for instance, which is the country of my residency. According to CNN Greece and MurciaToday, it has the third more expensive fuel in Europe, averaging 2.17€/liter of 95 unleaded, right after Finland and Denmark at 2.218€/liter and 2.208€/liter respectively. On top of that, the average mentioned price isn't that accurate anymore, due to the article being two days old already and the prices are increasing on a daily basis. The average is close to 2.20-2.22€/liter, but that could also be valid for the other two mentioned countries.

However, Denmark and Finland have one of the highest salaries and considerably best living conditions in Europe. Denmark on the one hand, doesn't feature an official minimum wage, but statistics show that the average income per individual is $2580 (~2450 euros). Finland on the other hand, also doesn't have an official minimum wage imposed, however the minimum salary someone can expect starts from €1.500 to €2.500. Greece's minimum wage however, doesn't exceed €713 before taxes. It's pretty obvious that you can easily see the difference.

The Greek citizens are suffering from the increased living costs, since everything has skyrocketed in price, from daily expenses such as gas and going to the supermarket, to electricity and utility bills. Personally, in my area petrol costs €2.35/liter, while I had to pay €300 for my electricity bill (4 months period), while increases in daily groceries have surpassed 20% in some products, such as meat and vegetables.

Sources: https://m.murciatoday.com/diesel_prices_in_spain_exceed_eu_average_for_first_time_1776291-a.html

https://www.cnn.gr/oikonomia/story/313066/spaei-ta-konter-i-timi-tis-venzinis-aplisiasta-ta-pratiria-sta-nisia/amp

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[palle11]

Generally apart from Greece, I think the cost of fuel on a litre is increasing by the day which is further deeping inflation and the cost of living and maintenance of the home and paying of utility bill is proportionally growing. This is keeping hardship unabated. For countries that the government decide to pay a little higher wages, they may not feel the hard times badly like Denmark or Finland as reference point but the countries with lesser paid salaries, the poor are getting poorer. Overall I also think this inflation is the outcome of wars from golf war in 1990 over thirty years ago.

[Lucius]

I may be wrong, but I always put Greece in the context of what happened in the not-so-distant past when Greece was saved in what is called the biggest financial rescue of a bankrupt country in history. Given all the measures and the huge debt that will not be able to be repaid until 2060 at the earliest, Greece is in great disfavor with those who bought its debt.

All this that is happening all over the world in Greece can only be more pronounced because the country does not have a free hand to deal with the crisis but must listen to what the bureaucrats from Brussels will do. The fact that the ECB only has a meeting in July where it could raise interest rates only deepens the crisis and raises inflation.

My country is in the EU, but fortunately, it is still not within the eurozone, which gives the central bank room for maneuvering to make some decisions together with the government. Fuel prices have been frozen several times already, which means that the price of 95 is about 0.40 EUR lower than in Greece. In addition, despite the sanctions, we are one of the countries that increased the most Russian oil imports after the Russian aggression on Ukraine. I'm not happy about that, especially since I know that part of the oil goes to another country, but that's another story.

Inflation is inevitable, and those who can keep it at around 10% will be considered lucky - others will have to tighten their belts even more. When it comes to the EU, I have no doubt that the countries in the west will fare much better than those in the east, but we should not be surprised, given that in the end everyone has to take care of themselves.

[fiulpro]

Apart from the list being of the countries with the most expensive fuels I do think that it can also be the list of countries who have to adopt alternative options asap. Tesla is not affordable for everyone ofcourse but I do think they can also bring something good in the market which might not only be of help to families who are struggling but expand their options as well. There are other cars available in the market but not that easy to sort the best our out there. Other than that there are countries like Russia who are exporting the fuel to Europe or *was* exporting, therefore I do think that soon enough many EU countries would be joining the list as well. France, Germany, Italy , Ireland, Sweden all are having the fuel prices which are more than 2$ and due to blockage of the supplies by the Russians and them having less alternative options it might not be an ideal time to start.

[NeuroticFish]

Greece and Italy too are "in my book" somewhere at the "far end of the pipe", i.e. I think that logistics may be playing an important role in the price, no matter it's a real pipe or it's about transportation on the road.
For those living near the northern part - close to Macedonian border - refueling abroad is a real deal.
Many tourists also do the same - refuel in Macedonia, just before entering Greece.
All this is known and it's not new at all. Of course, in the same way the fuel prices skyrocketed everywhere, they did - most probably proportionally - also in Greece.

I'll tell about Romania. The incomes are also far from great. Romania also extracts some fuel from own soil. And still the price now is over 1.63 EUR and keeps rising (iirc it was under 1 EUR last summer)
Now the northern countries: from what I know at least one of them has huge offshore resources. This means that those countries pretty much near the "start of the pipe". It's, unfortunately, not so much related to how much do people earn, although that fuel price ends up soon in the shelf prices for everything.

And something more: it's interesting to watch how much is the fuel price taxed. In some countries (including Romania) the tax is overly high. It may be the same situation in Greece too. And then it's the government that has to do something, even if it's temporary.


LE: One chart I find pretty good is: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/Europe/ (just make sure you set price to EUR)

[Moneyprism]

fortunately my country did not interfere so much in the war ukraine and russia,,,, so russia still sends its oil supply to our country and thanks for that the price of oil in our country is still quite cheap compared to neighboring countries

[Naficopa]

fortunately my country did not interfere so much in the war ukraine and russia,,,, so russia still sends its oil supply to our country and thanks for that the price of oil in our country is still quite cheap compared to neighboring countries

Lucky you - my country Prime Minister visited Russia for oil and wheat and the same day Russia attacked Ukraine. And all the blame is on our PM, we are fighting to get our PM back - so bad situation in my country, oil is life.

[TimeTeller]

Apart from the list being of the countries with the most expensive fuels I do think that it can also be the list of countries who have to adopt alternative options asap. Tesla is not affordable for everyone ofcourse but I do think they can also bring something good in the market which might not only be of help to families who are struggling but expand their options as well. There are other cars available in the market but not that easy to sort the best our out there. Other than that there are countries like Russia who are exporting the fuel to Europe or *was* exporting, therefore I do think that soon enough many EU countries would be joining the list as well. France, Germany, Italy , Ireland, Sweden all are having the fuel prices which are more than 2$ and due to blockage of the supplies by the Russians and them having less alternative options it might not be an ideal time to start.

Maybe not aim to have a car fueled by gasoline/diesel these days. But try checking out electric vehicles like electric bikes or tricycles.
And if you are just doing short distances, why not just walk, use bike or use the public transportation?
If you have the option not to use a car, then don't. Aside from saving money, you are also lessening your carbon footprint.
Everywhere seems to increase the fuel prices, not only in Europe area. So be smart these days, look for alternative and better options.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I personally think this is a general thing, things are really changing fast and sometimes, I wonder how the common man is going to survive if the cost of living continues to increase like it is currently doing.
Everything in my country has more than tripled in price when comparing them to the prices they were two years back, I remember I used to buy several stuffs online from a Chinese online store and have the item(s) shipped to me in my country, and I also remember I sometimes sell those stuffs in my country at a much higher price, this was one of the businesses I do back then, but currently, this business is no longer profitable because the cost of a dollar to my countries currency has more than tripled, and collecting the items from the post office used to be free of charge, but now, they weigh the item and charge you based on the kilogram.
Truly, things are changing for the worst for many countries but in all, I still hope and look forward to better days ahead.

[Ebede]

Fuel prices going up is matter of general not matter of war because i understand that fuel can be scarce because of the manageability of economy because some of the countries have what to use to manufacture their own fuel for them to sell for affordable rate you both big man and poor person will also buy but some countries prefer selling their crude oil out and refinery from refineries and returning it with bigger price So lack of economy management is the cause of scarcity of fuel for each country

[adaseb]

I remember back in 2008 during the financial crisis they kept talking about PIGS. It meant Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. They had a horrible recession with double digit unemployment. They had it for years even after the US economy recovered.

The high gases prices probably is nothing new. Compared to America most people there drive less and have cars with smaller engines. In America we got V8 large trucks and many commute 1-2 hours each day for work. In Greece they don’t travel as much.

[NeuroticFish]

In Greece they don’t travel as much.

That doesn't matter at all.
Even if people may not travel such long distances so often, they still do travel. Even more, all goods are sent to supermarkets by trucks, hence the fuel prices are seen pretty fast in everything one is buying.


And, sadly, since a big percent of that fuel comes from Russia, these elevated prices help Russia's war effort. Isn't politics a bitch?

[Erumo]

Isn't politics a bitch?

It is expensive to be alive or live nowadays  This about pros being a zombie. You dont need food (hello upcoming wheat problem), you can walk as much as you want (you dont need to bother about "expensive fuel"), you dont need medicine, fancy clothes and etc.

[Lucius]

And, sadly, since a big percent of that fuel comes from Russia, these elevated prices help Russia's war effort. Isn't politics a bitch?

Politics is a dirty business and there is no doubt about it, but in this particular case, we can see that some are still dirtier than others. The Russians are playing their strongest cards and already 5 or 6 years ago they knew the exact moves of their opponents - and the proof of that is that the sanctions have not practically touched them. They say the EU alone spends about 1 EUR billion a day on oil and gas, not to mention how much more money comes from the rest of the world.

I hope that everyone will learn something from this, although in the short term Russia can create big problems when it comes to oil and gas supplies to the EU. Summer hasn't even started yet, but winter is not so far away.

[Flexystar]

You get what you pay for! They imposed the sanctions all over Russia and now they are fighting back with brain game here. This is but obvious, this is war and the most essential thing in the war is food and fuel. You lower or cut down the supply of single commodity and the whole supply chain goes down. Putting it easily if you stop the fuel you get hampered with traveling, supply chain of food chain slows down and gets costly too. So all in all things start messing up.

The rise of fuel is soaring in many Asian countries too due to their tax system too.

[aoluain]

I remember back in 2008 during the financial crisis they kept talking about PIGS. It meant Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. They had a horrible recession with double digit unemployment. They had it for years even after the US economy recovered.

The high gases prices probably is nothing new. Compared to America most people there drive less and have cars with smaller engines. In America we got V8 large trucks and many commute 1-2 hours each day for work. In Greece they don’t travel as much.

Yes we all remember the big financial crash of 2007/2008 and the resulting hardship felt
more so in P, I, G and Spain, the ongoing inflation and effects from war related sanctions
could well be felt the hardest in those 4 countries again.

I live in the E.U and in my country we experienced Diesel touching €2 per litre and everything
else is rising and costs are being pushed down to the consumer.

And, sadly, since a big percent of that fuel comes from Russia, these elevated prices help Russia's war effort. Isn't politics a bitch?

Politics is a dirty business and there is no doubt about it, but in this particular case, we can see that some are still dirtier than others. The Russians are playing their strongest cards and already 5 or 6 years ago they knew the exact moves of their opponents - and the proof of that is that the sanctions have not practically touched them. They say the EU alone spends about 1 EUR billion a day on oil and gas, not to mention how much more money comes from the rest of the world.

I hope that everyone will learn something from this, although in the short term Russia can create big problems when it comes to oil and gas supplies to the EU. Summer hasn't even started yet, but winter is not so far away.

Yea I think there are still a lot of moves which have yet to play out, oil and gas supply
from Russia is massive and major disruption will play havoc with everyones lives,
of course it will hit the consumer the hardest.

[Ultegra134]

~Snip~

Excuse me for not replying, I was unavailable the past two days, despite logging in.

That's correct, Greece went through a terrible phase in 2010, with awful austerity measures. I can't claim that we were "saved" since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) admitted that they hadn't assessed the situation correctly, making a few mistakes in the measures that were taken. Anyway, I believe not being in the Eurozone as a benefit anymore, since most countries I've seen that still have their own currency are in a way better standing than we are. Inflation here is soaring while wages are quite terrible for the majority of the population.

Greece and Italy too are "in my book" somewhere at the "far end of the pipe", i.e. I think that logistics may be playing an important role in the price, no matter it's a real pipe or it's about transportation on the road.
For those living near the northern part - close to Macedonian border - refueling abroad is a real deal.
Many tourists also do the same - refuel in Macedonia, just before entering Greece.
All this is known and it's not new at all. Of course, in the same way the fuel prices skyrocketed everywhere, they did - most probably proportionally - also in Greece.

And something more: it's interesting to watch how much is the fuel price taxed. In some countries (including Romania) the tax is overly high. It may be the same situation in Greece too. And then it's the government that has to do something, even if it's temporary.


LE: One chart I find pretty good is: https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/Europe/ (just make sure you set price to EUR)

Greece and Italy share quite a few similarities indeed. It's true, people living near the Macedonian border are opting to buy petrol from there, I would too, provided that I had the option, it's way cheaper there. Unfortunately, those living in islands, like myself, are met with extravagant fuel prices, in some islands it has even surpassed €2.5/liter.

Fuel prices have certainly skyrocketed everywhere, however, due to the unfair taxation here, which always took place, and the price increases in every aspect of our daily lives, have become unbearable. We always had expensive fuel, but we're now on the top of the list with countries that have double or triple wages compared to ours.

In Greece they don’t travel as much.

I commute to work and university every day, meaning that I do over 30-40 kilometers a day, it might seem a little for USA's standards, but it's not only the fuel that has skyrocketed. Add the electricity, fuel, groceries and your salary isn't enough anymore.

[el kaka22]

I have to say it's all about politicians and how people elect the right people. Places near that east Europe block, do not have politicians that are decent, and using that indecent methods to keep staying in power. Greece may be seen as a place that has decent people, but their ruling parties has always been terrible and never managed the nation properly. Whereas people in Norway, Finland, Sweden and all of that has been shown as an example of how great a nation could be ruled.

The biggest power any citizen has is their vote, and unfortunately many nations have citizens voting for the "most powerful person" by their logic, not the one that will rule the nation best.

[Poker Player]

The problem Europe has is that it does not produce oil, or almost no oil, we could say, especially compared to other parts of the world. And that, like it or not, fossil fuels are the cheapest form of energy. Add to this the shift to a "greener" energy model based mainly on cheap gas (much of which comes from Russia) to support so-called clean energies, and we see the perfect recipe for the current disaster, which has been triggered by the war, but could have happened for other reasons as well.

The U.S. can make oil cheaper by producing more of it. Greece and the European countries cannot. The other way to lower gasoline prices would be via reduced demand, as happened when the world was half paralyzed by Covid, which if it happens again would be a bad sign.

The gas issue will also impact the European way of life. Less and more expensive gas. I hope that at some point this will turn around, but the outlook looks bleak.

[oaz7t]

Politicians? We voted for them and this is how they repay us now that's the beauty of it. If we speak on the terms of technical background then crude oil is way way cheaper and based on that prices fuel can be made available in cheap forms. However, prices are only soaring because it's "made short" in those countries but thr supply is still full, barrels are overflooded in Russia and Arab countries. This is not something low supply high demand situation. Frankly it's war strategy that's all.