Official petrol price increases for November announced

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has announced the official fuel price adjustments for South Africa this November.

Unfortunately, both petrol and diesel are going up this month by at least 20c per litre, which will come into effect this Wednesday.

Breaking the streak

The fuel price hikes are primarily the result of an increase in the international trading price of Brent Crude oil, which went up from $72.82 to $75.07 per barrel.

However, this was partially offset by the rand’s continued appreciation against the US dollar.

For the period 27 September to 31 October 2024, the rand was trading at R17.5301/dollar, compared to R17.6723/dollar from the previous month.

This led to a lower contribution to the Basic Fuel Price on petrol and diesel by 8.34c/litre and 8.49c/litre, respectively.

In line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, the Slate Levy on petrol and diesel will remain at 0.00 c/l with effect from 6 November 2024.

Accounting for all of these different factors, you can expect the following fuel price changes that will take effect in South Africa this week:

• Petrol 93 – Increase of 25c a litre
• Petrol 95 – Increase of 25c a litre
• Diesel 0.05% – Increase of 21c a litre
• Diesel 0.005% – Increase of 20c a litre

The increase marks the end of five consecutive months of reduced petrol prices, though the adjustments are smaller than initially anticipated.

The Central Energy Fund previously expected petrol to go up by at least 28c/litre, as oil was at one point trading at $80 per barrel in October.

The substantial oil hike was predicated on Israel’s then-imminent attack on Iran, which could have affected its oil fields.

However, the attack turned out to be far less severe than initially thought, which led to oil prices dropping to $75.07 per barrel.

The table below indicates how the official fuel price adjustments for November will reflect at the pump: