Diesel is a global commodity. Refineries and traders buy crude and products on the same international markets. Yet a litre at the pump can cost almost nothing in one country and more than £3 in another.
Using GlobalPetrolPrices national averages (shown in pounds per litre, late September 2026), the spread runs from Venezuela at about £0.003/litre to Hong Kong at about £3.67/litre. A simple average across the listed countries sits around £1.25/litre. The UK is near the expensive end at about £1.98/litre — dearer than the USA (about £1.27), Australia (about £1.38), South Africa (about £1.47) and Spain (about £1.65), and close to France (about £2.03) and Germany (about £2.08).
So what drives that gap? Local oil wells and “lack of demand” get blamed often. The bigger story is politics: tax, subsidy and price control.
The cheap end: oil states and heavy subsidy
At the bottom of the table sit Venezuela, Iran and Libya — pennies per litre — then Algeria, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Egypt, Angola, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers, typically well under £0.50/litre.
These are not places where diesel is “scarce”. Many export oil or refined products. Governments keep domestic pump prices low with subsidies or administered prices, often as social or industrial policy. That cushions households and transport operators — including minibus-taxi fleets — but it is expensive for treasuries and can encourage waste and smuggling when neighbours pay far more.
GlobalPetrolPrices itself notes that countries with a * on its chart are updated weekly; others, often with tightly regulated markets, move monthly because the official price barely changes.
The dear end: high-tax Europe — and a few outliers
Western and Northern Europe cluster near the top: UK (about £1.98), Italy and France (about £2.03), Belgium and Germany (about £2.07–£2.08), Netherlands (about £2.21), Norway (about £2.23), Switzerland (about £2.25), Denmark (about £2.30).
Here the international product price is only the starting point. Fuel duty, VAT and environmental levies stack on top. Governments use diesel as a reliable tax base and a climate/policy lever. Drivers feel it on every shift; treasuries depend on it.
Hong Kong (about £3.67) sits in a class of its own — dense, import-dependent, high costs and high duties. Malawi (about £2.56) shows another pattern: a lower-income, often import-constrained market where logistics and policy can leave pump prices painfully high even without rich-country tax rates.
How much of the UK pump price is tax?
In the UK, two taxes sit on every litre of road diesel:
Fuel duty — a fixed amount set by government. For diesel (heavy oil) the main rate is 52.95p per litre, reflecting the temporary 5p cut still in force through 31 December 2026.
VAT — 20%, charged on the fuel and on the duty.
Using the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s weekly average around late September 2026 (about 195.5p/litre for B7 diesel), a typical split is:
Fuel, refining, wholesale and forecourt: about 110p (roughly 56%)
Fuel duty: 52.95p (about 27%)
VAT: about 32.6p (about 17%)
Tax in total: about 85.5p — roughly 44% of the pump price.
So nearly half of what a UK taxi or PHV driver pays is duty plus VAT. When crude and wholesale diesel rise, VAT rises with them (because it is a percentage). Duty stays put until ministers change it — which is why a freeze or temporary cut is such a big deal for the trade.
That is also why the UK sits with high-tax Europe on the global chart, not with the USA (about £1.27/litre), where fuel taxes are much lighter.
Is it local supply?
Mostly no — not in the way people imagine.
Almost every country faces the same world crude and product benchmarks. A non-producing country does not automatically have expensive diesel, and a producer does not automatically have cheap diesel at the pump. What differs is what happens after the fuel reaches the border: duty, subsidy, wholesale margins, and whether the state sets the price.
Local refining and shipping costs matter at the margin — islands and landlocked states pay more to move fuel — but they rarely explain a tenfold gap. Policy does.
Is it government control?
Yes — that is the main lever.
Three common models:
Subsidised or administered prices — common in oil exporters and some developing economies. Pump prices stay flat for weeks or months while the world market moves.
High-tax market prices — common in Europe, including the UK. Prices move with the market, then tax multiplies the bill.
Lighter-tax markets — the USA is the classic rich-country exception: advanced economy, relatively low fuel tax.
When South Africa’s diesel jumped toward record rand levels in October 2026, that was the regulated national price formula transmitting international costs (and local levies) into the pump — the opposite of a Gulf-style freeze.
Is it lack of demand?
Rarely the headline cause of cross-country gaps.
Strong diesel demand can tighten markets short-term, but the enduring league table is not “busy countries pay more”. The USA has huge road-fuel demand and still sits mid-table. Japan (about £0.77) and India (about £0.77) are far cheaper than the UK despite large fleets. Europe’s high prices track tax design more than empty roads.
Demand matters more for how painful a price is. Where wages are low and most people ride diesel minibus-taxis, a rise of a few pence equivalent hits harder than the same move in a high-income car market.
What it means for taxi and PHV drivers
For UK drivers paying around £2/litre, the global chart is a reminder: you are not paying a natural world price — you are paying a high-tax European price, with roughly 44% tax on a typical litre. Operators in Saudi Arabia or Egypt are not magically better at buying diesel; their governments choose a different deal.
For fleets in places like South Africa (about £1.47 on this snapshot, before later rand spikes), the fight is often with sudden regulated jumps and weak subsidy for public transport, not with UK-style duty at 53p a litre.
Useful questions anywhere:
How much of the pump price is tax or levy? In the UK today: about 44% — duty 52.95p plus VAT.
Is the government capping or subsidising?
Are we an importer with thin logistics — or an exporter that chooses to keep domestic fuel cheap?
Same molecules. Different politics.