Alternative fuels for when the fossil stuff gets too expensive!
 

Whilst it's not exactly on topic...

Remember, if you are driving a diesel then you can always fall back on using vegetable oil - it may well be cheaper and more available the way fossil fuel is going! It's something which might get you moving if there are real fuel shortages somewhere...

If you have a relatively big engined car - Land Rover, Land Cruiser etc, then running a 50% vegetable oil(ordinary cooking oil) mix will probably cause no problems - I've run a TDi Defender for the last few years on 50% with no problems except a bit of waxing on the fuel filter in freezing European weather - just carry a spare filter element! Sunflower oil is best since it's thinner, but basically whatever you can get. A modern electronic management engine might not like it due to odd feedback readings, but since a 'proper' overland car shouldn't have a reliance on something which needs a diagnostic computer to maintain it most of us shouldn't have to worry about that...

And if you have a Landy with a TD5 engine it's designed to run on kerosine or Jet A1 without any additives - that's what they tested the original designs on, so that's another alternative fuel - Jet A1 tends to be cheap (untaxed) but usually has to be bought in 210 litre drums - ask at the local airport! Other diesels, add a bit of oil to the tank to lubricate the injector pump

Tony

mali gasoil/diesel
 

Today 20km north of Bamako:
Station Total gasoil/diesel 535 fcfa
Nameless filling station 525 fcfa

(1 euro = 656 fcfa)

detnol - Home

Update
 

Great tread but the oil price has dropped much since the latest post.:clap:

Would be much appreciated if someone could post recent diesel price in Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauretania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin and Togo.

I have a big 310L tank and small wallet, it makes a big difference where to refuel. :thumbup1:

No clues? :confused1:

Algeria&Niger
 

Petrol
Algeria - 23 Dinars (0.25 euro)
Niger - 670 CFA (1.2 euro)

Alex

Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina, Mauretania
 

Fuel prices we found in November 2008

Gambia:
All over the country
Diesel 32 GMD (@32 GMD per 1 Euro -> 1 Euro)
Petrol 33 GMD (@32 GMD per 1 Euro -> 1,03 Euro)

Senegal:
Tambacounda
Diesel 661 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 1,02 Euro)
Petrol 672 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 1,03 Euro)

Mali:
Diesel 585 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 0,9 Euro)
Petrol 695 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 1,07 Euro)

Burkina Faso:
Boromo
Diesel 687 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 1,06 Euro)
Petrol 721 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 1,11 Euro)

Mauretanien:
Nema
Diesel 282,5 Ougiya (@308 Ougiya per 1 Euro -> 0,92 Euro)

While the CFA rate is fixed GMD and Qugiya vary. A few weeks before our visit Qugiya was 340 so than Mauritania is the cheapest.

Best regards
Bernd

So the whole lot is within 10 pence per liter of each other?

UNL in Africa
 

Slightly on topic, I found this interesting map during a discussion on the XT660 forum showing UNL fuel over nearly all of Africa. It was news to me, but could save the agonising over cats.

From this report: http://www.unep.org/pcfv/PDF/LeadReport-Brochure.pdf

Ch

Diesel price Februari
 

Diesel price Januari-Februari

Ghana 0,89/L Ghanian CeDi
Ceuta 0,68€
Morocco 7.40D
Western Sahara 4,38D

Price in South Africa for petrol R7.10 coastal areas , R7.23 Inland. Prices do change a few times a year. Rand/Dollar and crude oil price based. Or so they will lead us to believe.

February- April 2009

Lybia: 0,17 Lybian Dinar / litre
Egypt: 1,10 Egyptian Pound / litre
Sudan: 1,12 Sudanese Pound / litre
Ethiopia: 6,90 Birr / litre


ciao

I keep the list on my site for the following countries relatively up to date:

Algeria
Angola
Botswana
Burkuna Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
CAR
Chad
Congo (D.R.)
Congo R
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Kenya
Libya
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Uganda

Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana
 

Fuel prices we found in October / November 2009

Gambia:
All over the country
Diesel 32 GMD (@39 GMD per 1 Euro -> 0,82 Euro)
Petrol 33 GMD (@39 GMD per 1 Euro -> 0,85 Euro)

Dalassi had a real low and typically the exchange rates are about 30 GMD per 1 Euro. So the Fuel price will be around a 1Euro per litre


Senegal / Cassamance:
Zinguinchor
Diesel 548 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 0,84 Euro)
Petrol 682 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 1,05 Euro)

Guinea Bissau:
Bissau
Diesel 540 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 0,83 Euro)
Petrol 623 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 0,96 Euro)


Guinea:
All over the country
Diesel 4500 GNF (@7500 GNF per 1 Euro -> 0,60 Euro)
Petrol 4500 GNF (@7500 GNF per 1 Euro -> 0,60 Euro)


Cash exchange Guinea Franc per 1 Euro: 7000 GNF Koundara Taxi Parc; 8100 GNF Kindia market
Oanda.com mean: 7460 GNF

Sierra Leone:
All over the country
Diesel 14800 SLL/ gal (@5500 SLL per 1 Euro -> 2,96 Euro/gal -> 0,71 Euro/l)
Petrol 14800 SLL/ gal (@5500 SLL per 1 Euro -> 2,96 Euro/gal -> 0,71 Euro/l


Cash exchange Leone per 1 Euro: 5400 Forex office; 5900 Street

Liberia:
Monrovia
Diesel 210 LRD/ gal (@102 LRD per 1 Euro -> 2,05 Euro/gal -> 0,54 Euro/l)
Petrol 225 LRD/ gal (@102 LRD per 1 Euro -> 2,20 Euro/gal -> 0,58 Euro/l
Ganta
Diesel 234 LRD/ gal (@102 LRD per 1 Euro -> 2,29 Euro/gal -> 0,61 Euro/l)


Ivory Coast:
Abidjan
Diesel 571 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 0,88 Euro)
Petrol 628 CFA (@650 CFA per 1 Euro -> 0,97 Euro)


Ghana:
Takoradi (close to Accra)
Diesel 1,180 GHS (@2 GHS per 1 Euro -> 0,59 Euro)
Petrol 1,168 GHS (@2 GHS per 1 Euro -> 0,58 Euro)

Best regards
Bernd

Fuel prices and Road conditions are what we need to know!
I've been planning a trip in southern africa and those are the facts that I have been hunting for. The other info in need is how avaliable is the fuel between locations. Will my tank make it? Will be bouncing about southern africa so can supply info, but what we need is a data base of fuel prices/avalability and road conditions globally that this can get fed into and made avaliable in a user frendly format, currancy linked ect.

As XT Girl has found, GTZ have a more or less annual world-wide fuel price survey. Here is their website section on fuel prices:
GTZ. International fuel prices
Their latest survey is from November 2008. Here is the overview of the report:
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-in...eview-2009.pdf

And, Chris, as you may have seen, there is some interesting info on the UNEP.ORG website.
Here is the Africa section:
http://www.unep.org/pcfv/regions/Africa.asp

And the most interesting tables are the matrix indicating the status of leaded gasoline by country (sub-sahara) - all phased out.
http://www.unep.org/pcfv/PDF/MatrixAfricaLead-Oct09.pdf

And also the Diesel Sulphur Map (sub-sahara)
http://www.unep.org/pcfv/PDF/MapSSAf...phur-Oct09.pdf

The question I have is: what is the octane level of the unleaded in Mali? Does anyone have an accurate source?

TOTAL have many country specific websites:
http://www.total.com/en/common/group_websites/

For example: Burkina Faso TOTAL Burkina Faso : une gamme de produits pétroliers et lubrifiants where it is indicated the unleaded is 91 octane.

But no TOTAL Mali website. :confused1: