Fuel prices in Europe, October 2026: diesel dearer than petrol everywhere, and what governments are doing

Oil is at a five-month high: a barrel of Brent cost 110 dollars on 20 October, up from 97 at the end of September. Across Europe, governments are cutting fuel taxes, capping prices or limiting margins, and every country does it differently. GasBu collects official pump prices from 12 European countries, about 60,000 filling stations in all. Here is where fuel is cheapest today, what each government is doing and what has actually reached the pump in the past month.

⛽ Prices today

Average of the latest price at every station, 21 October 2026, sorted by diesel. Czech, Romanian and British prices converted at the ECB rate of 20 October.

The cheapest diesel is in Croatia, Spain and Slovenia, all under €1.95. The most expensive is in the United Kingdom and France, around €2.36. For petrol, Slovenia, Croatia and Cyprus are cheapest, Germany, Portugal and France most expensive. Between the cheapest and the most expensive country there are almost 50 cents a litre for diesel, €24 on a 50-litre tank.

🛢️ Diesel is dearer than petrol everywhere

In all 12 countries diesel now costs more than petrol. In Austria the difference is 33 cents, in the United Kingdom 30, in Cyprus 26. In most of these countries diesel is taxed less than petrol, so normally it would be the cheaper fuel.

The reason is the diesel market. Europe imports much of its diesel, and according to market reports exports from Gulf refineries have been disrupted by the war in the Middle East, Russian fuel output has been cut by Ukrainian strikes, and in October attacks were reported on Saudi oil sites. Diesel is short, so it is the fuel that has risen most.

The gap is smallest where governments have targeted diesel: in Czechia, diesel excise was cut to the EU minimum on 1 October, and in Romania diesel excise is 25% lower. In Germany and Portugal the difference is about 10 cents because petrol is also expensive there.

🏛️ What each government is doing

Outside the countries in our data, Poland has cut VAT on fuel to 8% and sets daily maximum prices until the end of the year, and Greece subsidises diesel and petrol directly at the pump in the second half of October.

📉 What changed at the pump in a month

The month shows quite clearly which measures reached drivers:

• Germany fell the most, by 18 to 19 cents. The Tankrabatt of 16.7 cents passed through completely, and 21 September was close to the record prices of mid-September. More in our German analysis.
• Spain: petrol fell by 19 cents because its tax cut rose from 5 to 20 cents on 1 October; diesel already had 20 cents and fell by 6. See our Spanish analysis.
• Austria: both fuels fell by 9 to 10 cents; by 20 October almost all of the 12 cents had reached the pump. Details in our Austrian analysis.
• Czechia: diesel down 9.5 cents thanks to the tax cut, petrol only 2 cents, because most stations were already below the price cap.
• Slovenia and France fell by 3 to 7 cents with the market. Slovenia's regulated prices follow wholesale prices week by week; on motorways, where prices are free, fuel is up to 22 cents dearer (our Slovenian analysis).
• Portugal stayed flat: the weekly ISP discount offsets part of the market but does not lower prices on its own (our Portuguese analysis).
• Italy is the only country where diesel rose, by 5 cents, after the diesel excise cut ended on 5 October.

For Romania, Cyprus and the United Kingdom we do not yet have prices from a month ago.

📅 What happens next

• 31 October: the Czech price cap and lower diesel tax, and the Romanian diesel excise cut, end unless extended. Without them, diesel would rise by about 10 cents in Czechia and 16 cents in Romania (our Romanian analysis).
• Mid-November: Spain's October inflation figure decides whether the tax cut stays at 20 cents in December or falls.
• 30 November: the Austrian Spritpreisbremse and the Cypriot excise cut end unless extended.
• 31 December: the German Tankrabatt, the Portuguese ISP discount and the British duty freeze end. From 1 January, British fuel duty is due to rise by 3p and Germany wants a price cap in place.

💡 Driving across borders

• From Austria: diesel is about 20 cents cheaper in Slovenia and Czechia (off the motorway in Slovenia).
• From Portugal: fill up in Spain, petrol is 35 cents cheaper and diesel 30.
• From Germany: Austria and Czechia are cheaper, especially for petrol; France is not.
• From France: diesel is cheaper in Spain, Germany and Italy, in Spain by 46 cents.
• From Italy: diesel is cheaper in Slovenia (off the motorway) and Austria.

Cheapest stations near the border crossings are on our cross-border fuel pages.

📱 GasBu

GasBu shows nearby filling stations sorted by price, with official prices from each country, the price history of every station and a seven-day trend. The route planner shows where fuel is cheapest along your route, including abroad. Prices are free, unlimited and without registration. Average prices by region for every country are on GasBu Radar.

GasBu is available on the App Store and Google Play, in 13 languages.

📚 Method and sources

• Prices: official sources used by GasBu in each country: Spain, Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Geoportal); Portugal, DGEG; France, prix-carburants.gouv.fr; Italy, MIMIT; Germany, Markttransparenzstelle für Kraftstoffe; Austria, E-Control; Czechia, network price lists and community reports; Croatia, Ministry of Economy; Slovenia, goriva.si; Romania, Consiliul Concurenței, Monitorul Prețurilor Carburanților; Cyprus, Consumer Protection Service (CC BY-SA 4.0); United Kingdom, Fuel Finder (OGL v3.0).
• Averages: simple average of the latest price at each station, at most seven days old, on 21 October 2026 at 10:00 (and 21 September for the change). Spain without the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. Petrol 95 E5, in France and the United Kingdom E10, the most widely sold petrol there. Italy: 12 September and 12 October, because newer Italian prices were not available for the comparison.
• Exchange rates: ECB, 20 October 2026 (1 € = 24.329 CZK = 5.3308 RON = 0.84028 GBP), used for both dates so that changes show the price in the local currency.
• Measures: official decisions and announcements in each country, as described in our country articles linked above. Oil: Brent, daily closing prices.