• The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced the petrol price increases set to take effect from 2nd August 2023.
• Both 93 and 95 octane petrol are set to increase by 37 cents per litre.
• An increase in the price of Brent Crude oil has impacted August’s rise in cost for fuel locally.

A week ago many experts expected the petrol price to increase for August, and now the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) have confirmed those suspicions.

The increase in price takes effect from tomorrow (Wednesday, 2nd August), with increases set across the board, the only exception being the price of gas.

To that end, the price of both 93 and 95 octane petrol is going to increase by 37 cents per litre, while diesel is rising by an even larger margin of 72 cents per litre.

The full breakdown of pricing changes for August 2023 are as follows:

• “Petrol (both 93 and 95 Octane): Thirty-seven cents per litre (37.00 c/l) increase.
• Diesel (0.05% sulphur): Seventy-two cents per litre (72.00 c/l) increase.
• Diesel (0.005% sulphur): Seventy-one cents per litre (71.00 c/l) increase.
• Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale): Seventy-one cents per litre (71.00 c/l) increase.
• SMNRP for IP: Ninety-five cents per litre (95.00 c/l) increase.
• Maximum Retail Price of LPGas: Hundred and sixty-one cents per kilogram (161.00 c/kg) decrease.“

As for the reason for the increase, not that many South African motorists will care about the reason why petrol is more expensive and only that it will cost more moving forward, the change in Brent Crude oil imports are cited by the DMRE.

“The average Brent Crude oil price increased from 75.10 US Dollars (USD) to 79.75 USD during the period under review. The main contributing factors are,

1. the increasing demand for crude oil from China and India, and
2. Tightening supply due to continued production cuts by Saudi Arabia. Most analysts expect the supply constraints to push the price higher in the next few weeks.”

As such, the slight decrease we saw in July has been short lived. Either way, many motorists will be heading to their local petrol station this evening before the increase takes effect. We advise caution when doing so, as those filling up at petrol stations are usually a prime target for theft and gunpoint robberies.

[Image – Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash]