(Gallo Images)
Cheaper international oil prices have slammed the brakes on significant increases in fuel prices for August.
The Department of Energy (DoE) announced on Monday that the price of both grades of petrol would increase by 1c a litre from Wednesday.
Diesel will cost 4c a litre less.
The slight hike will take the per litre price of 95 octane unleaded petrol to R15.54 on the coast and R16.03 inland respectively.
Illuminating paraffin (wholesale) will go up by 4c, while illuminating paraffin (SMNRP) will cost 5c more per litre.
The maximum retail price for LPGAS will spike by 17c per kilogram.
Last month’s increases of between 23c/l and 26c/l pushed the inland per litre price of petrol to over R16 for the first time on record.
That spike would have been 20c a litre more if it wasn’t for declining oil prices, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe said at the time.
Lower prices
The DoE said on Monday that average international product prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased during the period under review.
The rand, meanwhile, depreciating against the dollar to R13.4713 from 29 June to 26 July 2018 from R13.2871 in the previous review period. “This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 10.23c/l, 10.44c/l and 10.62c/l respectively.”
By 14:37 on Monday the rand was trading at R13.18/$, while Brent crude was selling for $74.93 a barrel.
In its fuel price forecast last week, the Automobile Association warned that motorists and other fuel users should still be cautious “as 2018 has so far been a year of volatility in the fuel price and the see-sawing rand and oil price suggest that caution should be the watchword”.
Last Thursday, the AA said the four consecutive fuel price increases since April this year were a symptom of SA’s weak economy. In its view, deregulation of the petrol price is not necessarily a solution.
AA CEO Collins Khumalo called for civil society to work together to find a practical solution to “a problem which goes deeper than the fuel price”. — Fin24