RTÉ News looks at how fuel costs are affecting how we travel and looks at the reasons for recent surges.
Oil prices have doubled over the last year and risen 44% this year alone, with US crude surging to around $140 a barrel at one point.
David Murphy looks at how rising diesel costs impact on hauliers and farmers.
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David Murphy reports on the rising cost of air travel and aviation fuel.
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Paul Cunningham & David Murphy examine some greener modes of transport
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Paul Cunningham asks if rising fuel costs will push more people onto buses
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Since 2004, oil prices have shed their typical $20-$30 a barrel stability to climb steadily, due to factors such as new demand from India and China and supply threats from conflict in the Middle East.
Oil remains within sight of the record mid-June hit of $140 and some have suggested the world is experiencing a third 'oil shock'.
The previous crises were caused by a sharp reduction in supply preceded by political turbulence and war.
1973 - The first oil shock was caused by an Arab oil embargo directed at Israel's supporters in the Arab-Israeli war: primarily the US but also Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal and South Africa.
The price of oil quadrupled to almost $12 a barrel.
1979 - The second oil shock followed the Islamic Revolution in Iran and was keenly felt in the US which had to ration fuel. All exports from Iran stopped, resulting in a loss of about 5% of overall supply and a price spike of 150%.
Oil averaged just under $32 a barrel in 1979.
With oil prices in 2008 rising nearly sevenfold in as many years, the real-money cost of crude is higher than ever leading many to speak of a third 'oil shock'.
The jump in prices has received worldwide attention and prompted protests in many countries.
Belgium: Fishermen, mainly from France and Italy, demonstrated against soaring fuel prices and some clashed with police near the EU headquarters. French fishermen say they will go broke unless they can buy diesel at half the market rate.
Britain: Hundreds of protesting truck drivers blocked London roads at the end of May, causing chaos. Almost a week later fishermen's groups massed in the centre of the capital to demand urgent government aid to ease rising fuel costs.
Bulgaria: More than 150 truck drivers and dozens of bus drivers from across Bulgaria converged in a convoy on the outskirts of the capital Sofia, saying high fuel prices say them operating at a loss.
Chile: Thousands of Chilean drivers parked their trucks along national highways to protest soaring fuel prices and diesel taxes in a tacit rejection of the government's $1bn cash subsidy on consumer fuel prices.
France: Trucks and taxis blocked a major motorway in Paris and called for low-cost diesel, a few days after a mass fishing boat strike. Fishermen, truckers and farmers have staged numerous protests over the past month to pressure the government into helping them after oil costs doubled in a year.
Italy: Commercial fishermen went on strike on 30 May, closing down the industry on both coasts.
India: Protests and strikes called by India's opposition parties and the government's own communist allies hit India for a second day in June after the government raised fuel prices by about 10%, its second increase in two years and the biggest one-off hike since 1996.
Indonesia: Hundreds of Indonesian students and police clashed at the end of May, in protests sparked by an almost 30% fuel price hike. Days before, police detained dozens as 2,000 people marched on Jakarta's presidential palace, and similar rallies took place in Medan, North Sumatra, and Surabaya.
Ireland: Fishermen demonstrated outside Leinster House and kept their boats in ports around the country in protest at rising fuel prices. Action also took place at ports on Cork Waterford and Killybegs
Malaysia: Protestors turned out for an opposition-backed event in the capital Kuala Lumpur on 6 June, two days after the government hiked petrol prices by 41% and diesel prices by 63%.
Portugal: Portuguese fishermen stayed in port, as part of a wave of protests in European commercial fisheries.
Spain: Almost the entire Spanish fleet, by far Europe's biggest, stayed in port on May 30, calling for government action to lower fuel prices. Madrid fishermen handed out 20 tonnes of free fish, calling it worthless because of rock-bottom prices.
