Libya - along with Algeria, Angola and Nigeria top a list of countries where you can travel the furthest in Africa, on $50 worth of fuel. So just what does $50 buy you and just how far can you go? (Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
With $50 (R800), you can buy 1 301 litres of petrol, in Libya. If you were to use the very latest economy vehicle, that amount of fuel would take you more than 24 000km. Which means to Cape Town. And back – if you were to use the Trans-Saharan Highway A1, a journey of around 12 000 km.
According to the Global Fuel Index, oil-rich Libya is the country with the world’s second-cheapest fuel. One dollar will get you 26 litres. In Venezula, which has the word’s cheapest fuel, a dollar buys you some 34.4 litres.
The report, developed by Zutobi, an online driver’s education company, uses a best-selling petrol-powered saloon vehicle as the base estimate for fuel consumption of 19km per litre of petrol, or, 5.26 litres/ 100km, to provide comparative analysis of how far one could drive, in each country, for $50.
Other major oil-producing countries like Algeria, Angola and Nigeria top the list of African jurisdictions where drivers can travel longer distances, thanks to cheaper fuel.
Drivers in Algeria pay 129.3 litres for $50, allowing them to drive up to 2 510km, at the same consumption rate.
At the same cost, drivers in Angola would drive 2 259km (they’ll get 119 litres of fuel for $50), Nigerian drivers will manage 1 982km (104 litres) and Egyptian drivers, 1,522km (80 litres), completing the list of African countries where one can travel 1 000km and above, on $50.
“The average number of miles you could travel for 50 US dollars is 706 miles (1 136km),” according to report.
Ethiopia (1 271km), Togo (931km), Chad (910km), Sudan (825km) and Benin (783km) were among those ranked below the average distance but still listed among countries where cars can cover longer distances.
Gabon (778km), Madagascar (777km) and Sierra Leone (775km) also featured in the list.
Angola leads African countries as the country that has recorded the biggest drop in fuel prices over the last five years. In 2017 the cost of a gallon of fuel (3.78 litres) in the West African nation was $4.32. That has now fallen to $1.60 per gallon on average.
“With a 775.81 percent decrease in the cost of petrol, Angola is some way off Syria and Iran, but its petrol prices have dropped considerably more than fourth-placed Russia,” said the report.
The cost of fuel in Russia is pegged at 2.20 US dollars per gallon – equivalent to 1.7 litres per dollar.
Other African countries that have recorded major decreases in cost of fuel over the review period are Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar, the world’s second-largest island country.
Of Africa’s largest economies, South Africa has the most expensive fuel, at around 1.3 litres per dollar. – bird story agency