• The rise in international prices of Brent Crude Oil and the depreciating Rand against the Dollar have once again fallen on the shoulders of SA’s motorists.
• Fuel prices are seeing hefty increases across the board from Wednesday 6th September 2023.
• Both 95 and 93 petrol will increase by R1.71 per litre, while diesel prices will rise from R2.76 per litre.

For the second month in a row, South African motorists are set to face increases in fuel costs, with both grades of petrol, diesel, illuminating paraffin and gas all seeing price hikes.

This is according to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), which explain that several factors have led to September’s increase, including a rise in international prices for Brent Crude Oil.

The department has outlined the following increases that will take effect from Wednesday 6th September (per litre):

• “Both 95 and 93 petrol will increase by R1.71,
• Diesel 0.05 percent sulphur will increase by R2.84,
• Diesel 0.005 percent sulphur by R2.76,
• Illuminating paraffin will be up by R2.78 (single maximum national retail price increases by R3.70),
• Maximum retail price for LP Gas to increase by R2.26.”

Compared to the increases we saw in August, September’s petrol price hikes are steeper. Petrol only increased by 37 cents a litre last month.

“Diesel and paraffin prices increased because of lower shipments of Russia’s Urals crude oil, which is rich in middle distillates, as well as rising demand of middle distillates ahead of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. LPGas increased because of higher prices of Propane and Butane,” the DMRE explains, as per SA News.

This means that as summer creeps into the Southern Hemisphere, countries in the north of the planet are preparing for winter which is why demand is up. Shipments from Russia and the Urals could have been affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Additionally, the DMRE says that the Rand’s recent depreciation against the US dollar also played a role in September’s petrol price increases.

Finally, the DMRE recently approved a 5 cents per litre increase in the price structure to “accommodate the wage increase for forecourt employees, in line with the Motor Industry Bargaining Council (MIBCO) Agreement” which is another factor leading to hikes.

We reiterate that the above prices will come into effect from midnight on Wednesday, so today will be the last time you can fill up before the September increases take effect.

[Image – Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash]