January 1st, 2018 marked the day Saudi Arabia raised their price for a barrel in their first baby step to begin taking their economy off energy subsidies, as well as to reduce the amount of oil the Saudis consume.
The prices went up substantially to achieve the kingdom’s goals, by 82 percent. The Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources tagged 17 cents onto the previous 20 cents one liter of Octane 91 fuel cost on December 31st, 2017. Octane 95 took an even steeper climb of 126%, up from 24 cents to 55 cents for one liter. Even with these draconian price hikes oil in Saudi Arabia is still among the world’s cheapest. According to GlobalPetrolPrices.com Saudi Arabia has the 15th lowest oil prices in the world.
Compared to neighboring states Kuwait’s oil is slightly more expensive, at 36 cents per liter, while the UAE has oil at a higher price of 58 cents. The prices also include VAT, which was also just begun on January 1st. Yet, Saudis are still paying rock bottom prices for their oil. Here’s what the rest of the world pays for oil, per liter.
Major Cities
• London: $1.68
• New York: 79 cents
• Paris: $1.71
• Tokyo: $ 1.23
• Hong Kong: $2.02
• Shanghai: $1.05
Five most expensive countries
• Iceland: $2.02
• Hong Kong: $2.01
• Norway: $1.92
• Monaco: $1.90
• Netherlands: $1.88
Five least expensive countries
• Venezuela: 1 cent
• Turkmenistan: 28 cents
• Kuwait: 35 cents
• Iran: 36 cents
• Algeria: 37 cents