CAPE TOWN - South African motorists and commuters are facing a crisis, with petrol and diesel set to go up by a massive margin in December, pushing the price past R20 per litre for the first time.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, both grades of petrol will go up by 81 cents per litre from Wednesday while 50ppm diesel will increase by 74 cents and 500ppm by 72 cents. Illuminating paraffin will rise by 42c/l.
The December fuel price adjustment will see the cost of 95 Unleaded Petrol rising to R19.63 per litre at the coast and R20.35 in the inland regions, where 93 Unleaded will rise to R20.13.
The wholesale price of diesel will increase to R17.30 at the coast and R17.92 in Gauteng, keeping in mind that the unregulated retail prices (which vary between outlets) will be somewhat higher than that.
The department said there were four main reasons for the increase.
It said the average Brent Crude oil price increased from $75.50 to $83.40 per barrel during the period under review.
“Brent Crude oil reached the highest level since October 2018. The key driver is the higher global demand recovery amid a weaker supply response from non-Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and other oil producers. The situation was exacerbated by the impact of the current gas challenges experienced by European countries.”
In addition, the movement in international refined petroleum product prices followed the increasing trend in crude oil prices.
The rand also depreciated, on average, against the US dollar (from 14.56 to 14.72 rand per US dollar) 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 over 15 cents per litre.”
The Slate Levy, which is used to compensate the industry for cumulative under recovery, also saw an increase of 26.30 c/l.
Fuel taxes and levies currently account for R6.11 per litre of fuel, a fact which is proving increasingly controversial as higher oil prices and a weak rand drive prices up on a monthly basis.
Cape Times