Motorists get little relief at the petrol pump from midnight on Wednesday 4 November, with petrol falling by just one cent a litre, while diesel drops by more than R1 and illuminating paraffin and LPGas become more expensive.

This follows our earlier report on the projected price changes, which indicated that petrol and diesel were set to fall on election day. The official figures have now been announced by Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe.

The official adjustments

  • Petrol 93 and 95: down 1.00 cent a litre.
  • Diesel (0.05% sulphur): down 109.82 cents a litre.
  • Diesel (0.005% sulphur): down 119.82 cents a litre.
  • Illuminating paraffin (wholesale): up R2.75 a litre.
  • LPGas maximum retail price: up 183.00 cents a kilogram, and 208.00 cents a kilogram in the Western Cape.

According to Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources figures, the new inland pump prices are R29.87 a litre for 93 unleaded and R30.24 a litre for 95 unleaded.

Why prices moved

The department said the average Brent crude price rose from US$101 to US$108 a barrel. It attributed the increase to "uncertainty caused by the Middle East conflict, including the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia infrastructure, as well as high freight and insurance costs caused by ship-to-ship transfers".

The department also said middle distillate prices are mainly affected by "tight global supply, higher seasonal demand ahead of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere and continued Russia/Ukraine conflict". The rand weakened on average against the US dollar, from R16.21 to R16.55, which added 36.93 cents a litre to the basic fuel price for petrol, 49.00 cents for diesel and 49.26 cents for illuminating paraffin.

The international product price movements added 80.41 cents a litre to petrol, 94.22 cents to diesel and 225.23 cents to illuminating paraffin before other adjustments.

The role of levy relief

The small petrol decrease and larger diesel decrease reflect a temporary cut in the general fuel levy, announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in the mid-term budget policy statement last month. The cut is R1.50 a litre on petrol and R3.00 a litre on diesel from 4 November and forms part of a R10 billion relief package.

What we do not yet know

A separate breakdown of the price structure indicates that the slate levy is rising by about 48 cents a litre, which would offset part of the petrol relief. We have not been able to confirm that figure against an official source. Reported wholesale diesel prices differ by a cent between sources, so we have not published them. Households that use paraffin and LPGas will feel the increases most.