Government can cut price of petrol

IT SEEMS the only organisation that is against the petrol price increase and is vocal about it, is PAPPI (People Against Petrol Price Increase) and its convener Visvin Reddy.

This organisation is making the public aware that there are solutions to the petrol price hikes, if the government is prepared to listen. The only time our government listens, is through rolling mass action. We need to change the government’s stance on purchasing crude oil and by using our own resources.

At the moment, South Africa purchases its crude oil from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries.

OPEC seems to be like another cartel that demands that countries buy oil from them at an exorbitant price.

But Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world at 300.9 billion barrels, with Saudi Arabia second at 266.5 billion barrels, is selling crude oil at $16 a barrel prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The reason for this massive price difference is that Venezuela is not part of OPEC and cannot be dictated to by OPEC.

By the way, India has pulled out of OPEC and now it is able to bring the price of petrol right down.

Another suggestion that PAPPI would like to promote is Sasol. This is a proudly South African company that converts coal to fuel, which is much cheaper than Brent crude oil.

Sasol at the moment supplies about 30% of fuel to South Africa and the rest is exported.

If the government decides to deregulate petrol, Sasol can supply fuel at about R6 per litre.

According to Sasol’s financial reports in 2017, it cost the company R2.71 to produce a litre of fuel.

These are some of the suggestions PAPPI have been making all these years, but the government is not listening.