Greeks are slowly forming queues at gas stations fearing a price skyrocketing due to the war in Middle East, the halting of production by several countries and the closure of the Straits of Hormuz.
The first queues started to be recorded already on Monday and especially after some experts appeared on state broadcaster and predicted that the price could climb to 2 euros per liter by the end of the week.
Kavala, NE Greece, on Monday evening, March 2
On Tuesday, unleaded gasoline is already being sold at €1.82/l in the northern suburbs of Athens.
Since the end of last week the price increased by 4 cents.
Professional gas station owners say that everything will be decided depending on the developments in Middle East in the coming days.
Motorists are flocking to gas stations to fill up their car tanks in order to purchase fuel relative cheaper.
“The price of fuel is currently at an affordable level, but from there on, with any increase, we will have to struggle with. Some measures will be needed because what goes up here will not come down,” a driver who has just filled his car at a gas station in the southern suburbs told news website newsit.gr
Another driver added “I came and put in fuel for 50 euros because I am worried that the price of gasoline will go up. We do not know where this thing will go.”
Some people posted on X that the price for unleaded already rose to €2/l on the island of Patmos and the city of Ioannina in Epirus, north-western Greece.
On Milos and some other islands price was 2.25 euros/l, Mega TV reported on Tuesday afternoon.
Price increases now are a result of previous month
Nikos Papageorgiou, president of the Association of Commercial Fuel Stations, said that “the increase that has been recorded so far in the Greek market comes from the previous month. The market itself had given us a premonition that a significant event would occur. There was an increase of approximately 10% in the refinery product. This did not pass directly to the Greek market, because it was absorbed by the trading companies and the liquid fuel stations.”
He added that “the primary product, the Brent Crude Oil, is now above 80 dollars a barrel. If it approaches 100 dollars, as analysts in Europe estimate, then we will see unleaded exceed 1.90 euros and perhaps even approach 2 euros. This is a very dynamic period for fossil fuels and liquid fuels and this will be reflected in all European markets. In Greece, high taxation leaves no room for the price to be kept low.
Regarding the price developments in natural gas and oil, Papageorgioou said “if Russia limits the quantities of natural gas to the European market, then the increase in oil prices will be even greater. In such a scenario, we will again experience situations similar to the period of the war in Ukraine, when oil was sold for 2.20 and 2.30 euros in Greece. This means a significant increase in transportation costs and, by extension, increases in the prices of all products.”
It is worth noting that earlier today the EU urges Ukraine to allow access to pipeline carrying Russian oil.
EU urges Ukraine to allow access to pipeline carrying Russian oil https://t.co/cZ1jjyzIcP
— Financial Times (@FT) March 3, 2026
Finance Ministry considering “Fuel Pass”
Daily ethnos.gr reported on Tuesday that the Finance Ministry is examining a measure from the recent past, the so-called “Fuel Pass”, provided that the Brent will climb over 100 US dollar per barrel and remain there for over a month.
The Brent price is on March 3 over $80/b.
The Greek government introduced the “Fuel Pass” subsidy together with subsidies in electricity and heating means after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the skyrocketing of energy prices.
It’s not just affecting transportation. My heating oil was getting low so I decided to fill my tank. My local garage was showing €1.16 early last week but I delayed a few days. When I ordered it on Thursday it had already gone up to €1.21 before any action by Israel/USA. It was delivered on Monday and when I went to the garage to pay it on Tuesday it had gone up again to €1.24.
A large amount of the World’s LNG is extracted from the Kuwait North Field and shipped through the Straights of Hormuz. If LNG goes up steeply that will affect electricity prices.
Straits of Hormuz, is the spelling. It’s also the Persian Gulf, whatever Trump and the Arabs may think.
My understanding from the financial press is that it is not so much the oil and petrol prices that are expected to increase massively, but natural gas. Production has been badly hit in the Gulf countries, especially Qatar.
the Straits are just a part of Persian Gulf before it opens to the Arab Sea