Fuel Prices in the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands sit firmly in the premium half of the global fuel table. A litre of gasoline currently retails at about $1.689 USD, which works out to roughly $6.39 USD per US gallon. In the local currency that is around 1.41 KYD per litre. Diesel is a touch cheaper at $1.645 USD per litre. Against a world average of $1.484, Cayman ranks 114th of 170 territories tracked — meaning fuel here costs noticeably more than the global norm, though it stays well below European pump prices.
Why Cayman Islands fuel costs what it does
The Cayman Islands produce no oil of their own. Every drop of gasoline and diesel arrives by tanker, refined abroad and shipped across the Caribbean, so freight, insurance and the small-market logistics of supplying three islands are baked into the headline number. There is no large-scale refining or storage advantage to soften the blow, which is the classic small-island-nation cost penalty you also see in places like Cape Verde and Seychelles.
The second big driver is government duty. Cayman has no income tax, so the public purse leans heavily on import duties and consumption charges, and fuel carries a per-gallon import duty on top of the landed cost. That duty is the largest single reason a barrel-derived litre that costs only a fraction at the global wholesale level ends up near $1.69 at the pump. There is no fuel subsidy here — unlike oil exporters that hold prices artificially low, Cayman passes the full landed-plus-duty cost through to drivers.
Currency is the one factor working in residents' favour. The Cayman Islands dollar is pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of roughly 1 KYD to 1.20 USD, so there is no exchange-rate volatility to amplify import costs. A weakening local currency — the kind of shock that has whipsawed pump prices in Ukraine — simply does not happen here. What Caymanians feel is the raw movement of global crude, filtered through fixed local duties.
The price trend: a decade of swings
The historical record from July 2016 to June 2026 tells a familiar Caribbean story. The ten-year average sits at about $1.38 USD per litre, close to today's level. The cheapest fuel ever recorded was $1.116 on 4 January 2021, deep in the pandemic demand collapse when crude briefly cratered. The most expensive was $1.98 on 1 August 2022, at the peak of the post-invasion energy spike that hammered importers worldwide.
That range — a swing of nearly 80 cents between trough and peak — shows how exposed an import-only economy is to global crude. Because local duty is roughly fixed in cash terms, almost every cent of that movement is the world oil market passing straight through to Cayman forecourts. At $1.689 today, prices have eased well back from the 2022 high but remain above both the long-run average and the 2021 floor.
For context, lower-cost markets such as Bulgaria sit closer to the world average, while many European nations run far higher because of heavier excise taxes. You can compare Cayman against the full global picture on our world fuel prices overview.
FAQ
How much does gas cost in the Cayman Islands?
Gasoline retails at about $1.689 USD per litre, or roughly $6.39 USD per US gallon. In local currency that is around 1.41 KYD per litre. Diesel is slightly cheaper at about $1.645 USD per litre.
Why is fuel expensive in the Cayman Islands?
The islands import 100% of their fuel by tanker, adding freight and logistics costs, and the government levies a per-gallon import duty instead of income tax. There is no fuel subsidy, so the full landed cost plus duty reaches the pump.
Are Cayman fuel prices affected by exchange rates?
Barely. The Cayman Islands dollar is pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate, so there is no currency volatility. Local pump prices move mainly with global crude oil prices, filtered through fixed import duties.