Gas Prices Around the World — US, UK, Canada & Australia Compared

The headline picture

The 2026 Iran conflict — which closed the Strait of Hormuz on February 28 and removed roughly 20% of world seaborne oil from the market — has lifted retail fuel prices in every major importing economy, but to very different degrees. This week brought fresh reminders of the war's compounding costs: the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell below 300 million barrels for the first time since 1983, and the UAE explicitly blamed Iran for fresh attacks on ADNOC-affiliated vessels transiting Hormuz. The United States has the cheapest pump prices among the major English-speaking markets at $4.0656 per US gallon (AAA, Aug 17), up ~36% from a $2.98 pre-conflict baseline, still well below the $4.55 peak (May 21). The United Kingdom sits at 156.1 pence per litre for petrol (DESNZ wk commencing 27 Jul) — equivalent to about $7.21 per US gallon. Canada is at CAD $2.06 per litre (GlobalPetrolPrices, Jul 27). Australia has jumped to 193.6 cents per litre as of the ACCC's 21st report through Jul 29 — the excise relief this page has tracked since June has now fully expired (Aug 2), with the rate back to 53.7 c/L from Aug 3, pushing prices up further still.

Three patterns hold across all four markets. First, diesel was hit harder than petrol during the spike — Middle Eastern crudes refine into a higher diesel yield, so the Hormuz closure removed proportionally more diesel from the global pool. UK diesel is up 22% from pre-conflict (vs. 16% petrol); UK diesel led the recent unwind too, falling 4.24p in the week to 22 June vs petrol's 2.28p drop. Second, every Anglosphere government has implemented a temporary tax measure — Canada suspended its 10¢/L federal excise (expires September 7), Australia extended the excise cut June 20 but halved it from 32 to 16 c/L (now expires August 2), and the UK has held the 2022 5p/L duty cut in place through 31 August before staged increases through 2027. The US has not used the federal gas-tax-suspension tool but has drawn the SPR to approximately 316.5 mbbl — the lowest since April 1983, a 43-year low. Third, state and provincial variation within each country is large — California gas costs nearly $1.73/gallon more than Oklahoma; UK and Australian regional variation is narrower but still material.

State and provincial breakdowns

National averages mask substantial within-country variation. State and provincial differences are driven mainly by local taxes, environmental regulations, refining capacity, and pipeline access — not by crude price.

United States — by state extremes

The California–Oklahoma spread of $1.73/gallon — approximately 45% of the national average — is structural and persists across all crude-price environments. California's combined state excise and fees total roughly 87 cents per gallon (highest in the US) vs. Oklahoma's roughly 41 cents; California also requires its own CARB-formulated gasoline that costs more to refine, has limited spare refining capacity, and is not connected to the major Gulf-to-Midwest pipeline system. Hawaii's premium reflects its import-only supply geography; Washington's reflects its state taxes (including a carbon program) and its CARB-adjacent fuel specification.

Canada — by province

Provincial differences are driven primarily by provincial fuel taxes (BC's 30+ c/L versus Alberta's 6 c/L), the regional carbon-pricing structure, and proximity to refining capacity. Alberta consistently has the cheapest gas in Canada because it is both the producing province and has the lowest provincial fuel tax; Newfoundland is consistently the most expensive because of supply geography (it imports refined product) and its provincial petroleum-pricing regulator.

Australia — by largest city

Australian capital-city variation is narrower than US state or Canadian provincial variation — typically within a 10 c/L band, driven mostly by local supply chain length and the petrol price cycle each city operates on (the ACCC monitors these). Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have weekly price cycles that can swing 20-30 c/L within a week; Perth and Adelaide have more stable prices.

United Kingdom — by region

UK regional variation in pump prices is much smaller than in the US or Canada — typically within a 5p/L band — because the UK is a single tax jurisdiction with one fuel-duty rate (52.95p/L) and a single VAT rate (20%). The largest differences are between supermarket and branded forecourts (supermarket petrol averages about 4.6p/L cheaper than premium brands), and between urban areas with more competition and rural areas with fewer stations. Northern Ireland prices typically run roughly 5-10p/L higher than Great Britain prices due to the separate supply chain through Belfast.

Why fuel prices differ by country

The crude price is set on global markets and arrives at every country's refinery gate roughly equal (adjusted for shipping and crude grade). What makes pump prices differ so dramatically — from $4.07/gal in the US to about $7.21 equivalent in the UK — is essentially four downstream factors: taxes, refining, currency, and policy.

1. Fuel taxes (the largest single factor)

Fuel tax accounts for the majority of the difference between Anglosphere pump prices. UK fuel duty is 52.95p per litre through 31 August 2026 (about $2.50 per US gallon equivalent), then rises 1p on 1 September, a further 2p in December, and 2p more in March 2027, returning the rate to 57.95p/L; plus 20% VAT charged on top of the price including duty — so on a 156.13p/L pump price, roughly 81p (about 52%) is tax. The average US state fuel tax is roughly 30 cents per gallon, plus the federal 18.4 cents per gallon, totaling about 49 cents — less than one-fifth of the UK level. Canadian federal excise is 10 c/L (currently suspended through Sep 7), federal carbon pricing adds approximately 17 c/L at the consumer level, and provincial taxes range from 6 c/L (Alberta) to over 30 c/L (BC including TransLink). Australian federal excise was 41.2 c/L before the April 1 cut to 20.6 c/L; extended Jun 20 but halved — 16 c/L net discount runs through August 2. If you removed all national fuel taxes, US and UK pump prices would differ by less than 50 cents per US gallon equivalent.

2. Refining capacity and geography

Countries with significant refining capacity buffer themselves against crude shocks. The US refines approximately 17 million barrels per day domestically — more than its own consumption — which means US refineries can flex output to local demand without depending on imports. Australia refines under 20% of national demand, importing the rest from Singapore and South Korea; Australia's dependence on Asian refining is exactly why it has been more exposed to the Hormuz shock than its crude-import statistics suggest, since the Asian refineries themselves run on Middle Eastern crude. The UK is mid-range — it refines roughly 60% of its diesel and 80% of its petrol domestically.

3. Currency effects

Crude oil is priced in US dollars on global markets, so non-USD currencies translate the global price through their exchange rate before tax. A weaker Canadian dollar or British pound makes pump prices in those currencies higher, even at the same dollar crude price. The CAD has held around USD 0.73 through 2026, which means dollar-priced crude costs more Canadian dollars to buy than it would at parity; the GBP at around USD 1.27 has the opposite (smaller) effect.

4. Policy interventions

Three of the four major Anglosphere markets have active fuel-tax cuts in 2026 as cost-of-living measures: Canada (federal excise suspension through September 7), Australia (excise halved through June 30, then extended at half-discount through August 2), and the UK (the 2022 5p/L duty cut held in place through 31 August, then phased back up). The US has used a different tool — Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases — which suppresses the crude price US refiners pay rather than the tax on the finished product. Both tools work, but they expire on different timetables and have different mechanics.

Wider comparison — major importing markets

The table below extends the comparison beyond the four English-speaking markets to additional major economies. Prices are shown in local currency per litre (the standard unit outside the US) and converted to USD per US gallon for direct comparison. Tier 1 reference markets are starred.

Tax-cut cliffs to watch

How the 2026 Iran conflict changed each market

The Strait of Hormuz closure on February 28, 2026 — and the US-Iran kinetic exchange that has followed since — has lifted retail fuel prices in every importing economy, but the transmission mechanism differs.

United States — price spike fully unwinding, no rationing

US AAA national average rose from $2.98 (Feb 26) to a $4.55 peak (May 21), eased to a $3.83 low on Jul 2, climbed back to $4.10 in late July, dipped to $4.00 on Aug 10, and now sits at $4.0656 (Aug 17) -- little changed on net despite continued Hormuz uncertainty. The US has not experienced physical rationing — every station has fuel, no government allocation, no station-level caps. The mechanism in operation is price rationing: prices rise until demand is destroyed to balance available supply. The SPR has muffled the spike, but the buffer fell below 300 mbbl this week for the first time since 1983 -- 298.7 mbbl as of Aug 12 (DOE data). The structural contradiction: crude whipsawing sharply on political news while domestic buffers sit at their lowest level in over four decades; the next shock lands on the thinnest US inventory position since 1983. See US forecast for scenarios.

United Kingdom — jet fuel premium fully unwound, retail steady

UK retail petrol and diesel are up sharply but availability remains stable — no physical rationing, no NOTAMs at major airports. The UK's principal exposure is to aviation jet fuel: the IATA Jet Fuel Monitor's latest published read shows approximately $160/bbl, +7.1% w/w, well up from the Jun 29 low of $116.63/bbl as the Hormuz/Bab el-Mandeb crisis re-escalated repeatedly through July. Still well down from ~$181/bbl at the late-April peak, but the "war premium essentially gone" framing no longer holds at all. UK CAA slot-rule relief for carriers with fuel-driven cancellations remains in force through summer/winter 2026. See UK forecast for the three-scenario jet-fuel outlook.

Canada — retail unwinding fast, aviation route losses persist

Canadian retail fuel availability has been stable through the crisis — no rationing, no station outages — and the national average stands at CAD $2.06/L (GlobalPetrolPrices, Jul 27), tracking the sharp Hormuz/Bab el-Mandeb re-escalation through late July. The conflict's main remaining Canadian impact is in aviation: Air Canada has cut ~14 transborder routes since April plus an indefinite Cuba suspension, and WestJet has reduced capacity. The federal excise suspension shields the consumer-facing pump price through September 7; whether it is extended will be the next major variable.

Australia — retail unwound from peak, excise extension softens the cliff

Australian retail prices spiked from approximately $1.77/L (Feb 20) to $2.63/L (end-March), then eased through April-May-June, before climbing again through July as the Hormuz/Bab el-Mandeb crisis re-escalated. The excise cliff this page has tracked since June has now resolved, in the harder direction: the remaining 16 c/L relief EXPIRED Aug 2 as scheduled, with no further extension granted, and the rate returned to 53.7 c/L (full restoration plus a CPI adjustment) from Aug 3. The ACCC's 21st weekly report (through Jul 29) shows the five-largest-cities average petrol at 193.6 cpl and diesel at 232.8 cpl, both up sharply even before the Aug 3 excise step-up fully compounds. MSO petrol stocks remain well-supplied. See Australia forecast.

European Union — road-fuel stress easing

The EU has experienced the broadest range of road-fuel stress in the developed world. Slovenia's March 22 road-fuel rationing decree was not confirmed active in June 2026 audits and has been removed from the GEF tracker under the 14-day re-confirmation rule. Hungary's foreign-plate price cap was ABOLISHED June 26, 2026 after market prices fell below the regulated level; Hungarian pump prices have since risen ABOVE the old cap level amid renewed Hormuz tension and Russia's diesel-export ban. Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery lost its Kazakh crude feedstock via the Druzhba pipeline on May 1 (Day 96 as of this update) — but has partly worked around the cut: Poland's Unimot Group has been shipping South American crude via the Baltic port of Gdańsk and PERN's pipeline network to Schwedt, with a second delivery in July, while Berlin extended the refinery's employment protections through year-end 2026 and committed €350 million toward a co-located sustainable-aviation-fuel plant. The June 17 ban on Russian short-term pipeline gas is in force. With the Hormuz crisis now sharply re-escalating rather than easing (Iran declared the US-Iran MoU void Jul 18), EU jet-fuel and diesel cost pressure is a fresh risk to watch rather than a fading one. See EU forecast.

Where prices are cheapest in the world

Outside the Anglosphere, the cheapest pump prices in the world are in heavily subsidised oil-producing countries: Venezuela, Iran, Libya, Algeria, Kuwait, and several other Gulf states set retail prices well below market cost as domestic policy. Headline numbers in these markets can range from approximately $0.02 to $0.40 per litre, though black-market and effective prices often differ. These prices reflect government subsidies (sometimes consuming meaningful portions of national budgets) rather than market dynamics, and most analytical comparisons exclude them as not directly comparable. Among market-priced economies, the United States consistently has the cheapest gasoline — a function of large domestic production, the world's largest refining base, and the lowest fuel-tax regime among major developed economies.

At the other end of the spectrum, Hong Kong has the most expensive market-priced petrol in the world, at approximately HK$32/L for premium grade (about $15.80 per US gallon equivalent) — a function of high government duty designed to discourage car ownership in a dense city-state. The most expensive in the EU is the Netherlands at €2.18/L (about $8.90/gallon equivalent), followed closely by Italy and France.