South African motorists will pay a record price for petrol from Wednesday, with 95 unleaded petrol in Gauteng rising above R30 a litre for the first time.
On Monday, the Central Energy Fund (CEF), on behalf of the department of mineral and petroleum resources, announced a R3.33-a-litre increase in 95 petrol from 7 October, taking the Gauteng price from R26.92 to R30.25 a litre.
The CEF’s historical price data shows this is the highest price recorded for 95 petrol in Gauteng, surpassing the previous high of R28.06 a litre in June this year.
The price of 93 petrol will increase by R3.12 a litre to R29.88, while diesel prices will rise by R2.84 a litre for 0.05% sulphur diesel and R3.24 a litre for 0.005% sulphur diesel.
Illuminating paraffin will increase by R3.58 a litre at wholesale level, while its Single maximum national retail price will rise by R4.77 a litre to R31.82.
The increases take effect on 7 October.
The CEF said average international product prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin increased during the period under review, from 28 August to 1 October.
For 95 petrol, the movement in international product prices contributed an additional 329.065 cents a litre to the basic fuel price. The movement in the exchange rate reduced the contribution by 0.171 cents a litre, resulting in a BFP under-recovery of 328.894 cents a litre.
The average rand/US dollar exchange rate was R16.2123 during the period under review, compared with R16.2139 during the previous period.
The CEF also said the combined cumulative petrol and diesel slate balance at the end of August was a negative R10.456-billion. A slate levy of 87.66 cents a litre will be incorporated into the petrol and diesel price structures from 7 October, an increase of 4.38 cents from the previous 83.28 cents.
The department said on Monday that the average Brent crude oil price increased from $87.89 to $101 during the period under review.
It attributed the increase to continued US/Iran tensions, uncertainty over the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, higher shipping costs and decreasing inventories.
The department also said international petroleum product prices increased because of supply shortages caused by lower global inventories of products.
The rand appreciated slightly against the US dollar during the period, but the department said this resulted in only a marginal reduction in the contribution to the basic fuel prices.