SA motorists must brace for significant fuel price hikes at the pumps as the October fuel price increase comes into effect as of midnight, in the wake of a weakening rand and oil prices remaining considerably elevated over the last month.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on Tuesday confirmed that the price of a litre of 93 and 95 octane petrol will cost R1.08 and R1.14 more, respectively, from Wednesday, 4 October.
Diesel prices for 0.05% and 0.005% sulphur will see more significant price hikes, up R1.96 and R1.93 per litre, respectively.
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The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will increase by R1.51 per litre, while the maximum retail price of LPGAS will see a R2.50 price jump per litre.
Local fuel price changes are influenced by international and local factors and this time around motorists have fallen victim to a weaker rand and crude oil prices which remained elevated around the $90 a barrel mark as supply continued to tighten during the period.
Read: Prepare for more fuel-price pain
“The continuing tightening of supply that emanated from extended production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia and low global oil inventories,” the DMRE said in a statement.
“The rand depreciated against the US dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared to the previous period. The average rand/US dollar exchange rate for the period 01 September 2023 to 28 September 2023 was 18.9853 compared to 18.6731 during the previous period. This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 24.17 c/l, 26.63 c/l and 26.59 c/l respectively,” the department added.
However, the department did note that the “exploration and development of national oil and gas reserves could help moderate the impact of high prices in the long term.”
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