Massive petrol and diesel price hike from Wednesday, 1 March

Motorists will have to dig much deeper in their pockets after the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE) announced an increase in the petrol and diesel prices.

The department announced that both grades of petrol 93 and 95 octane will increase by R1.27 cents per from Wednesday, 1 March 2023.

The price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) increases by 30 cents per litre while diesel with (0.005% sulphur) increases by 31 cents per litre.

Meanwhile, illuminating paraffin will cost 13 cents more per litre, while the price of LP gas increases by R5.22 per kilogram.

Reason for increases

The DMRE spokesperson Robert Maake said there were several international and local factors that contributed to the petrol price increase.

“The movement in international refined petroleum product prices, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased whilst petrol increased during the period under review,” he explained.

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Brent Crude price

Maake said the main reasons for the fuel price adjustments are in the increase of the Brent Crude price.

“The average Brent Crude oil price decreased slightly from 83.00 US Dollars (USD) per barrel to 82.14 USD per barrel during the period under review. The main contributing factors is the weekly report that showed that crude oil inventories continued to rise for the ninth month in a row.”

“Petrol prices are increasing at a higher rate than diesel because of lower inventory levels globally and closures of refineries in some countries for seasonal maintenance. The impact of the EU sanctions on diesel imports from Russia was already priced in,” Maake said.

Rand to US Dollar

The department said the rand depreciated, on average, against the US Dollar (USD) (from 17.05 to 17.74 Rand per USD) during the period under review when compared to the previous one.

“This led to higher contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 48.26 c/l, 52.53 c/l and 53.56 c/l respectively.”

Slate levy

“The negative slate balance on petrol and diesel amounted to R2,7 billion at the end of January 2023. A slate levy increase of 4,38 c/l (from 17.54 c/l to 21,92c/l) will be implemented into the price structures of petrol and diesel, in line with the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism rules effective from the 1st of March 2023,” the department said.

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