Transporters will get some reprieve when the price of diesel drops slightly on Wednesday but motorists driving petrol vehicles will have to dig deeper to fill their tanks.
The price of both grades of diesel will decrease by 30 cents (0,05% sulphur) and 36 cents (0,005% sulphur) a litre, while the price of both grades of petrol (93 ULP and LRP) and (95 ULP and LRP) is set to increase by 37 cents a litre, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced.
This means that a litre of 95 petrol, which currently costs R25.12 in Gauteng, will now cost R25.49 cents a litre from 1 May.
The price of petrol (93 ULP and LRP) will increase by 37 cents a litre, while the price of illuminating Paraffin (wholesale) will drop by 19 cents a litre and the maximum LP Gas retail price will dop by 46 cents per kilogram.
According to the department, the average brent crude oil price increased from USD84.22 to USD88.10 per barrel, during the period under review, which impacted the fuel price adjustments.
“There was a lot of volatility in the market during this period. The main contributing factors are the growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and sustained production cuts by OPEC+ [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] countries,” the department said.
“The average international product prices of petrol increased following the higher brent crude oil prices and anticipated demand for the driving season during the period under review. The diesel, illuminating paraffin and LP Gas prices decreased on average due to seasonal changes and reduced demand in the Northern hemisphere as they move away from their winter season,” the department said.
“The movement in product prices has led to a lower contribution to the basic fuel price (BFP) of petrol by 34.41 cents a litre and higher contributions to the BFP of diesel by 39.33 cents a litre and illuminating paraffin by 22.35 cents per litre.”
The weakening rand was also a contributing factor to the price adjustments.
“The rand depreciated, on average, against the US dollar [from 18.04 to 18.90 rand per USD] during the period under review when compared with the previous one. This led to higher contributions to the basic fuel prices of all products by about 2.50 cents per litre on all products,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
