New year brings fuel price outlook for Gulf countries

DUBAI: With the beginning of the year 2026, details regarding possible fuel prices in the Gulf countries have emerged.

According to Gulf media reports, Kuwait has decided to maintain the current fuel prices until the first quarter of 2026.

In Kuwait, the price of premium petrol will be fixed at 85 fils per liter, regular petrol at 105 fils per liter, while the price of diesel and kerosene will remain at 115 fils per liter.

In addition, the state committee, while reviewing the subsidy mechanism, has also approved setting the price of ultra (98 octane) petrol at 200 fils per liter.

According to sources, these prices in Kuwait will remain unchanged from January 1 to March 31, 2026.

On the other hand, most countries in the Gulf region have adopted a policy of liberalizing fuel prices, under which prices are determined according to fluctuations in the global oil market and are usually announced at the end of each month.

The announcement of fuel prices for January 2026 in the UAE is expected in the coming days. A slight increase was recorded in global oil markets at the end of December, which is likely to have an impact on fuel prices in the new month.

In December, the price of Super 98 petrol in the UAE increased from 2.63 dirhams to 2.70 dirhams per liter, which is about 2.7% more than the previous month.

Similarly, the price of Special 95 increased from 2.51 to 2.58 dirhams, the price of E-Plus 91 increased from 2.44 to 2.51 dirhams, while the price of diesel increased from 2.67 to 2.85 dirhams per liter.