• The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) have confirmed that petrol prices will decrease as of Wednesday this week.
• Both 93 and 95 grades of LRP petrol will decrease, at 24c and 17c respectively.
• A slight decrease in Brent Crude oil and improvement in the Rand are cited as reasons for the change in petrol prices.

While each new month in South Africa often sees motorists head to their nearest petrol station to fill up before the price increases, July will offer some slight respite as petrol prices are set to decrease as of Wednesday.

This as the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced that petrol prices will lower per litre, along with gas seeing a decrease across the board. Diesel, however, is going up, according to the DMRE’s advisement.

To that end, the department has outlined the following price changes that will take effect from Wednesday:

• “Petrol 93 (ULP & LRP) 24.00 cents per litre decrease in retail price
• Petrol 95 (ULP & LRP) 17.00 cents per litre decrease in retail price
• Diesel 0.05% Sulphur 18.00 cents per litre increase in wholesale price
• Diesel 0.005% Sulphur 12.00 cents per litre increase in wholesale price
• Illuminating Paraffin (Wholesale) 4.00 cents per litre decrease in wholesale price
• Illuminating Paraffin (SMNRP) 5.00 cents per litre decrease in the Single Maximum National Retail price (SMNRP)
• Maximum Retail Price for LPGAS 296.00 cents per kilogram decrease in the maximum retail price.”

As for the reason for the change, the DMRE cited a slightly stronger performing Rand.

“The Rand appreciated against the US Dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared to the previous period. The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate for the period 02 June 2023 to 29 June 2023 was 18.6825 compared to 18.9854 during the previous period. This led to a lower contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 19.77 c/l, 18.70 c/l and 18.91 c/l respectively,” the department explained.

Given the rising cost of living locally, the reason is of little importance to most South Africans, but many will take any drop in petrol prices where they can get them.

[Image – Photo by Jay Skyler on Unsplash]