Motorists brace themselves for petrol and diesel hikes on Wednesday. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) announced that both grades of petrol 93 and 95 octane will increase by R1,27 cents per litre from Wednesday, 1 March 2023.

PRICES

The hikes will take the price of a litre of unleaded 95 petrol to R22.95 when filling up inland and R22.30 on the coast. The price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) increases by 30 cents per litre while diesel with (0.005% sulphur) increases by 31 cent per litre. illuminating paraffin will cost 13 cents more per litre, while the price of LP gas increases by R5.22 per kilogram. The actual change in diesel pricing at the pumps will vary from one station to the next, as they can set their own retail prices.

FACTORS

DMRE spokesperson Robert Maake said there were several international and local factors that contributed to the petrol price increase. "The movement in international refined petroleum product prices, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased whilst petrol increased during the period under review. The main reasons for the fuel price adjustments are in the increase of the Brent Crude price," he said. He explained that the average Brent Crude oil price decreased slightly from 83.00 US Dollars (USD) per barrel to 82.14 USD per barrel during the period under review. The main contributing factor is the weekly report that showed that crude oil inventories continued to rise for the ninth month in a row. Petrol prices are increasing at a higher rate than diesel because of lower inventory levels globally and closures of refineries in some countries for seasonal maintenance. The impact of the EU sanctions on diesel imports from Russia was already priced in," Maake said.