"Romanians flocked to the Bulgarian border city of Ruse to fill up on cheaper fuel, as soaring prices driven by the Middle East conflict and high domestic taxes pushed costs beyond what many are willing to pay at home. Footage from Saturday shows long queues of traffic on the Danube bridge, waiting to get into Ruse from Giurgiu. "I save like 20 euros for a full tank," said a driver from Romania. "Even if the prices were equal, I would buy from here because the Romanian government is a thief," he stressed, explaining, "50 percent of the fuel price is taxes and VAT. Half of what you pay at the pump goes to the state." Another Romanian shared that she prefers buying other things from Bulgaria as well. "We come here for cigarettes, petrol, and everything we need. The prices are lower than in Romania," she detailed. For lorry drivers, the saving margin increases further. "For us, the price difference is like 25 cents (0.3 USD) per litre," noted a lorry driver. "For 100 litres of fuel, the price difference is significant. We save a lot of money. It's the same for food." At the time of publishing, the cost of Brent oil stood at 112.19 USD. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, remained in triple digits as energy infrastructure across the Gulf countries is being targeted, and the Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut."