Portugal's Energy Minister Asks Drivers to Save Fuel as Diesel Hits a Record: What It Means for You

Portugal’s energy minister has asked everyone in the country to use fuel only for what is essential. She has not rationed anything, and nobody has declared a shortage. What is real is the price: from Monday 21 September 2026, diesel costs more than it ever has.

On 21 September, speaking in Soure in the Coimbra district, Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho said consumption of diesel, petrol and jet fuel is running 4–6% above the same months last year. Her request was plain: as far as possible, use fuel only for what is essential, “because we face a resource that is scarce and that we need to save”, and take public transport where that is an option. She added that saving energy is also a matter of “personal management” by every company and institution.

That is the whole of the measure. It is an appeal.

Is there a fuel shortage in Portugal?

No. It is worth being exact about what was and was not said.

The minister did not announce rationing, purchase limits, or a supply emergency. She said the opposite about stocks: Portugal holds more than 18% more strategic jet-fuel reserves than it did at this time last year. She also described the government’s diplomacy with its main suppliers, Algeria, Brazil, Nigeria and the United States, including a coming visit from Algeria’s energy minister.

“Scarce” in her sentence is about the world market, not the pumps in Portugal. The decree that sets this week’s fuel tax, Portaria n.º 432-A/2026/1 of 18 September, gives the government’s own explanation: an extraordinary rise in fuel prices caused by the geopolitical and military crisis in the Middle East, “in a context of high uncertainty”. Reporting since the summer has named the two mechanisms behind that: disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and tight refining capacity in Europe that squeezes diesel in particular.

So the picture for a driver is not an empty forecourt. It is a full forecourt at a record price, and a government asking you to buy less of it.

What does fuel cost this week?

Averages for the week of 21 to 27 September 2026, from DGEG data reported on 18 September:

Fuel	This week (approx.)	Previous record
Simple diesel	€2.22 a litre	€2.157, the week of 14–20 September 2026
Simple 95 petrol	€2.12 a litre	€2.188, on 8 June 2022

The diesel figure is a new all-time high; petrol is a few cents short of its 2022 peak. Both rose again on Monday, by about 6 cents on diesel and 5 cents on petrol depending on the brand. Since the government’s tax support began in March, diesel has climbed roughly 52 cents a litre and petrol about 23 cents.

Those are national averages, and prices vary by station and region: the official DGEG price portal lists every station’s current price, so check the one near you rather than trusting a headline. And in early September Portugal was already the third most expensive country in Europe for petrol, behind France and Denmark, which is why the 7 September horn protests on the 25 de Abril bridge and the go-slow towards the Sines refinery happened at all. The energy regulator ERSE looked for evidence that operators were profiteering and found none.

For a resident who drives to work, the sum is not subtle: a 50-litre tank of diesel is now around €111. That figure is our arithmetic from the weekly average, not DGEG’s.

Does the government’s discount reach you?

Yes and no, and the distinction matters.

The ISP discount reaches you automatically, because it is built into the pump price before you see it. The ISP (imposto sobre os produtos petrolíferos, the fuel tax) is reset every week by decree. For the week starting 21 September, Portaria n.º 432-A/2026/1 fixes the mainland rate at €252.78 per 1,000 litres on road diesel and €423.30 on unleaded petrol, after “temporary and extraordinary” discounts of €108.82 and €74.22 per 1,000 litres, roughly 10.9 and 7.4 cents a litre. The rule behind the discount is mechanical: when the price runs more than 10 cents above the week of 2 to 6 March, the state hands back the extra VAT it collects on the higher price. It is a rebate of a windfall, not a cut in the tax itself, and it moves every Monday.

The support packages do not reach you. The minister was explicit that help should be “channelled to those who need it”, and she listed who that is: agriculture, fishing, public transport, freight hauliers and firefighters. Households and private drivers are not on the list.

A bigger cut is a proposal, not a rule. On 8 May parliament passed a resolution recommending the government cut ISP by at least 20 cents a litre on diesel and 23 on petrol. It has not been implemented, and on 22 September Iniciativa Liberal tabled a new motion demanding that it be. A parliamentary resolution recommends; it does not oblige. Until a decree says otherwise, the weekly windfall rebate is the only relief there is.

What does this mean if you drive, hire a car or fly?

If you live here and drive. Nothing about your right to buy fuel has changed. Your fuel line has: if you commute by car on diesel, a tank costs more than it ever has, and the minister’s appeal to switch to public transport is the cheapest advice in this post if a bus or train exists on your route. The transport allowance in our cost of living in Portugal guide is an editorial range that already includes fuel; at these prices a heavy driver should assume the top of it.

If you are visiting and hiring a car. The advice in our getting around Portugal guide stands, and one line in it matters more this month: take the full-to-full fuel policy and fill up yourself at a station you chose, rather than paying whatever the rental company’s refuelling rate is this month. Budget the fuel for an Algarve or Alentejo road trip at €2.20 a litre, not at whatever figure a two-year-old travel post gave you, and use the DGEG portal to find a cheaper station off the motorway.

If you are flying in. Jet fuel is up 76% since mid-June, on Platts data. TAP paid €370.2 million for fuel in the second quarter, 52.4% more than a year earlier and almost half its operating costs, and it has hedged only half of what it needs, less than the big European groups. The airline says it is already adjusting fares for tickets issued from March 2026 “where market and demand conditions allow”. Read that as fares that rise where the flight is full and hold where it is not, and book the busy dates early.

If you are planning a move. File this under running costs, not under whether to come. A fuel price is not a reason to choose a country, but it is a reason to choose a neighbourhood with a train station, and to look hard at whether the car you were going to ship is a car you need.

What should you do next?

• Working out whether you need a car at all? Getting around Portugal sets out where trains and coaches do the job and where a car is close to essential.
• Building a monthly budget? Cost of living in Portugal has the transport line this post is talking about, with the rest of the household alongside it.
• Deciding between the two big cities partly on commute? Porto vs Lisbon compares getting around each city, monthly pass included.

Fuel prices and the ISP rate change every week, and support measures change with them — check today’s price at a specific station on the DGEG portal and the current decree in the Diário da República before you plan around any figure here. This is general information, not financial advice.