Cheapest gasoline in the world

The Cheapest Gasoline in the World: A 2026 Country Ranking

Fill up in Tripoli and a litre of petrol costs about the same as a single stick of chewing gum. In Libya, gasoline sells for roughly $0.023 per litre — less than two and a half US cents. That is not a typo, and it is not an accident. It is the sharpest example of a pattern that runs right down our ranking of the 25 cheapest countries: almost every one of them pumps its own oil and then sells the finished fuel to drivers for a fraction of what it costs to produce.

The 12 cheapest countries for gasoline

Here is the top of the list, all figures in US dollars per litre:

1. Libya — $0.023
2. Iran — $0.029
3. Venezuela — $0.035
4. Angola — $0.327
5. Kuwait — $0.340
6. Algeria — $0.352
7. Turkmenistan — $0.428
8. Egypt — $0.483
9. Qatar — $0.575
10. Saudi Arabia — $0.620
11. Oman — $0.622
12. Iraq — $0.648

The full page ranks the 25 cheapest nations. To put these numbers in perspective, the world average price is $1.484 per litre. That means gasoline in Libya, Iran and Venezuela is not merely "cheap" — it is roughly 50 to 65 times cheaper than the global norm, and well over 100 times cheaper than the pump prices drivers face in the priciest markets.

Why is gasoline so cheap in these countries?

The single biggest reason is state fuel subsidies. Look at the list again: Libya, Iran, Venezuela, Angola, Kuwait, Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq are all major oil producers. When a government owns vast crude reserves and a national oil company, it can choose to sell petrol to its own citizens far below the international market rate, absorbing the difference from the national budget. Cheap fuel becomes a form of social contract — a visible benefit that governments hand back to the public in place of, or alongside, other services.

Being an oil exporter also lowers the underlying cost base. Producing crude domestically and refining it at home strips out shipping, import duties and much of the currency exposure that pushes prices up in countries that buy every barrel on the world market. Add heavy currency devaluation — as in Iran and Venezuela, where local prices have effectively collapsed against the dollar — and a litre of petrol ends up costing a few cents when converted to USD.

The hidden cost of cheap fuel

Ultra-cheap gasoline sounds like a pure win for drivers, but subsidies come with side effects. When petrol is priced far below its real value, demand balloons and consumption becomes wasteful, straining refineries and budgets alike. That frequently produces the opposite of abundance: fuel shortages, rationing and long queues at the pump, which have hit Iran and other subsidised markets repeatedly.

A second problem is smuggling. When petrol costs a few cents on one side of a border and a dollar or more on the other, the profit from moving it illegally is enormous. Fuel routinely leaks out of Libya, Algeria and Venezuela into neighbouring countries, draining the very subsidies that were meant to help local citizens. Governments that try to cut subsidies to stop the bleeding often face street protests, because cheap fuel is one of the few benefits people feel every single day.

How this compares to the most expensive countries

The contrast at the other end of the table is staggering. In the world's priciest markets — heavily taxed European nations and small oil-importing states — drivers pay well over $2 per litre, sometimes approaching or exceeding $3. That is a difference of more than 100-fold versus Libya or Iran. The gap has almost nothing to do with the cost of the oil itself and almost everything to do with policy: subsidies at one extreme, steep fuel taxes at the other. If you want to see the mirror image of this ranking, browse the most expensive gasoline list, or compare every nation side by side on our world fuel prices page.

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