A Bloomberg study on petrol prices in 55 countries places Romania among the cheapest, in 34th place, but rates the 'pain at the pump,' or percentage of average wage needed to fill up, among the highest. Of the EU countries in the study, Romania's USD 6.59 per gallon ( about 4 liters) was the cheapest and regionally, only Russia has lower prices.

But due to the low average wages, Romania's 'pain at the pump' rating was high, with a gallon of petrol costing 25 percent of the average daily wage.

Norway had the highest price in the study, but a low 'pain at pump' rating due to high average wages. India, despite having lower petrol prices than Romania, was rated the most painful at the pump, again due to low average wages.

The US with both low prices and high average wages was among the most economical countries for personal petrol use. The oil producing Arab states are also cheap places to run a car, with the same combination of low prices and high wages. However, the world's cheapest fuel is in Venezuela – just USD 0.09 a gallon, or around two US cents a liter! Venezuela is a major oil producer and has heavily subsidized petrol in the country for many years.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com