Norway most expensive nation to buy petrol as UK ranks 7th

Norway is the most expensive country to buy petrol at £1.52 (€2.07, $2.33) per litre, according to an analysis of Bloomberg data by Santander bank.

In Norway, petrol prices are 26% higher than that in the UK, where the price per litre is £1.21 – the seventh highest on a top 10 list.

Turkey comes in at number three at £1.39, followed by Hong Kong at £1.34. The Netherlands and Italy share the fourth position at a price of £1.33 per litre. At £1.28 per litre, Israel has the fifth highest fuel price in the world.

Although prices are highest in Norway, relative incomes are also higher which means spending on fuel accounts for 8% of Norwegians' average disposable monthly wage. In contrast, vehicle owners in Turkey spend nearly two-fifths of their monthly wage on fuel.

In Portugal, motorists spend 25% of monthly wage on fuel, followed by Greece in third place at 24%. By comparison, the Swiss spend just 4% of their disposable income on petrol.

"Although petrol in the UK isn't cheap, there are clever ways of helping bring the cost down, such as using the petrol discount vouchers you get when you do a big shop at the major supermarkets, downloading the various apps available to help you find the lowest petrol price nearby," says Matt Hall, director of banking at Santander.

The pricey petrol league table

Given below is an infographic produced by Santander and This is Money, featuring the latest details on price per litre, monthly fuel bills by country as well as the percentage of income that is spent on petrol per country.