Europe's fuel burden is heaviest per tank in the Balkans
Victoria Shinder1 min readEuronews reports that Europeans are paying sharply more for fuel amid what it describes as the largest global supply disruption on record: https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/23/largest-global-fuel-supply-disruption-in-history-which-europeans-are-paying-the-most-for-f.
On a 50-litre refuel, an estimate attributed to Europe in Motion puts the Balkans under the heaviest burden, with Bosnia and Herzegovina at the top of the list; within the EU, Greece is where petrol and diesel weigh most on household budgets. Refineries are under pressure as well: the International Energy Agency is cited as noting that global refinery output in July 2026 ran almost five million barrels a day below July 2025. Drone attacks on refineries in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain are reported to have halted or reduced production, and the piece notes a diesel refining-margin peak expected in October.
What it means
Measuring the burden per tank rather than per litre is the right instrument for this question. A price per litre compares markets; a 50-litre fill compared against incomes compares households, and the ranking changes. That is why the Balkans top a list that a price table would not put them on.
The refining bottleneck is the part that outlasts the headlines. Crude supply disruptions move prices quickly and can be met from stocks; a shortfall in the capacity to turn crude into diesel and jet fuel cannot, because the constraint is plant, not barrels. That is also why margins rather than crude prices are where the strain shows.
⚠️ Figures here are attributions: the per-tank burden to a Europe in Motion estimate and the output shortfall to the IEA. The expected margin peak is a forecast, and this piece does not verify any of the three independently.