Residents brace for more petrol price pain
CITY residents can prepare themselves for yet another price shock with petrol due to go up again from tomorrow.
The Department of Energy issued a statement yesterday regarding the fuel price adjustments for October.
South Africa’s fuel prices are adjusted on a monthly basis, informed by international and local factors.
According to the department, international factors include the fact that South Africa imports both crude oil and finished products at a price set at the international level, including shipping costs.
93 Octane, ULP and LRP petrol will increase by R0.25 c/l; while 95 Octane, ULP and LRP goes up by SHOCKER: Another price shock can be expected today for motorists as petrol has gone up yet again. R0.29 c/l, diesel (both 0.05 percent sulphur and 0.005 percent sulphur) increases by R0.42 c/l; illuminating paraffin (wholesale) R0.39 c/l; SMNRP for IP: R0.52 c/l; and Maximum LPGas retail price R0.39 c/ kg.
Department spokesperson, Lerato Ntsoko, said the main reasons for the fuel price adjustments were the rand/US dollar exchange rate, the prices of petroleum products in the international markets and the higher oil prices.
“The rand appreciated, on average, against the US dollar during the period under review. However, the average R/$ exchange for September 2017 was 13.08 compared to 13.21 in August 2017. In other words, the average R/$ was lower in September when compared to August. This contributed to the lowering of the Basic Fuel Prices of all petroleum products by less than 4.00 cents per litre.”
The international prices of petroleum products also increased on average during the period under review.
“This was in line with higher crude oil prices. However, the diesel prices rose faster than the prices of petrol due to sharp decrease in diesel stocks in the US. The petrol prices were very strong through August due to impact of Hurricane Harvey.”
The oil prices meanwhile increased by 12 percent since the beginning of September 2017, mainly due to improved compliance on production freeze by OPEC countries, evidence that US drilling activity and production is not rising as was expected, and evidence that stocks of crude oil in the US are falling faster than anticipated.