Gas Prices by Department Guatemala 2026: Regional Comparison

Update, October 8, 2026 — the fuel-tax exemption has applied since October 1. President Bernardo Arévalo sanctioned Decree 22-2026 (Ley de Exención Tributaria Temporal de Emergencia al Consumidor de Combustibles), which Congress approved on September 22 with 148 votes; it was published in the Diario de Centro América on September 30 and is in force from October 1 through December 31, 2026 (Diario de Centro América). For that period premium and regular gasoline and diesel are exempt from the fuel-distribution tax (IDP) — a fixed Q4.70, Q4.60 and Q1.30 per gallon respectively — and from VAT (IVA, 12% of the price of each gallon) (Diario de Centro América). The decree’s own estimate, using its reference values, is a cut of up to Q9.41 per gallon for premium, Q9.10 for regular and Q6.34 for diesel and gas oil — the law’s estimate, not a pump price we have observed. The whole exemption must be passed on to the price the consumer pays, and electronic invoices must show the amount of the benefit applied per gallon. Stations must report their prices to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) every day; MEM opened the reporting platform on September 30 (Diario de Centro América). MEM, DIACO and SAT supervise the pass-through, and DIACO can sanction stations that don’t apply the cut. Exporting or re-exporting the exempt fuels is temporarily banned. MEM must issue the implementing regulation within five business days of entry into force. The exemption took effect on October 1: the government news agency AGN reported that stations opened that Thursday with lower gasoline and diesel prices after Decree 22-2026 came into force (AGN, October 1), and on October 5 AGN reported that MEM had published the implementing regulation, Government Agreement (Acuerdo Gubernativo) 164-2026, in the Diario de Centro América (AGN, October 5). Under that regulation stations report their selling price every day, MEM sends DIACO the list of stations that failed to report every Monday while the law is in force, and DIACO checks displayed prices and invoices. MEM’s own estimate of the saving per gallon is about Q9.05 for premium, Q8.33 for regular and Q6.45 for diesel (AGN, October 1); AGN’s two October 1 reports describe the basis of those figures differently: its MEM report says they are based on MEM’s reference prices of October 1, while its explainer says the government calculated them from prices monitored on September 28, and that they are not a fixed selling price (AGN, October 1). Both taxes return at their ordinary rates on January 1, 2027, with no further act needed. Any MEM price on this page monitored before October 1 does not include the exemption. Meanwhile Decree 21-2026 (the Q39/Q41 price caps) was vetoed: the Diario de Centro América reported on September 30 that President Arévalo vetoed it in Council of Ministers, on the grounds that it could compromise the current national budget, since it would be financed from tax revenue while the tax exemption approved by Congress is in place (Diario de Centro América).

Gas price varies by department in Guatemala, mainly due to haulage distance from the Pacific and Caribbean import terminals and the level of competition between stations. This page shows the regional variation MEM last measured.

Summary: The whole national spread is small — Q1.36 per gallon between the cheapest and dearest departmental capitals in MEM’s last published department table. The cheapest was Puerto Barrios (Izabal) at Q30.88, not one of the dearest as is often assumed; Flores (Petén) was the outlier at Q32.24. For the current national figure, see today’s gas price.

Variation by department (regular gasoline, self-service)

Note — the last column is an estimate, not a quoted price. MEM published a weekly reference table for all 22 departmental capitals only while the Decreto 11-2026 fuel subsidy was running; that table ended with the 30 June - 6 July 2026 edition. Per-department figures are now published only monthly. The estimates above take MEM’s current monitored capital price (regular, self-service: Q32.07 as monitored on 26 October 2026) and add each department’s own gap to the capital from that last published table, which is how the feed behind this page computes them. Treat them as a guide to the spread, not as prices you can hold a station to. Only the middle two columns are MEM figures.

Why Petén is most expensive

Flores is the furthest departmental capital from both the Pacific and the Caribbean import terminals, and the fuel crosses several departments by tanker truck to get there. That showed up as Q1.15 per gallon above Guatemala City in MEM’s last published table — about Q17 extra on a 15-gallon fill. It is the only capital more than Q0.55 above the capital, which makes it a genuine outlier rather than the top of a smooth gradient.

Why the coastal departments are cheapest

Guatemala imports refined fuel through both coasts, so the ports sit at the bottom of the table rather than the top. Puerto Barrios (Caribbean, Izabal) was the cheapest capital in MEM’s last table at Q30.88, and Escuintla (Pacific) was second at Q30.96 — both below Guatemala City. This is the opposite of the usual assumption that remote Caribbean departments pay the most.

Strategy for frequent drivers

If you regularly drive between departments:

1. Only Petén is worth planning around — at +Q1.15 per gallon it is the one department where topping up before you go actually pays. Izabal is cheaper than the capital, so there is nothing to save by filling before you drive to Puerto Barrios
2. Keep it in proportion — the biggest gap to the capital, Petén’s Q1.15, is about Q17 on a 15-gallon tank. The end of the subsidy added roughly Q10 per gallon in five weeks, which dwarfs any department-to-department move
3. Choose the pump, not the department — self-service runs about Q0.93 per gallon below full-service, nearly as much as the entire national spread. See today’s gas price for the current reading

Strategy for fleet operators

For transport companies with fleets:

1. Pump your own fuel — the Q0.93 per gallon self-service saving is the one discount that is published and verifiable
2. Negotiate — prices are not regulated in Guatemala, so distributor and volume terms are between you and the supplier; we do not publish discount figures we cannot source. Decree 21-2026, which would have capped consumer prices at Q39/Q41 per gallon, was vetoed by the President, so prices stay unregulated; for the October 1 – December 31, 2026 fuel-tax exemption see the update at the top of this page (Diario de Centro América).
3. Budget diesel separately — diesel rose 61% between 1 July and 3 August 2026 and is now the most expensive of the three grades, at Q42.69 against Q32.07 for regular in MEM’s 26 October 2026 monitoring — Q10.62 more per gallon. Any freight cost model built on cheap diesel is out of date

For diaspora renting cars

If you rent a car and will travel to:

Related

• Today’s Gas Price — current national prices
• Price History — the 2026 subsidy and the jump after it ended
• Diesel vs Regular vs Premium — fuel differences
• Cost to Fill Tank — by car model
• Exchange Rate — affects international fuel price