Official petrol price increases for May announced

The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has announced the official fuel price adjustments for May 2026.

Unfortunately, both petrol and diesel will be hit with significant hikes due to war in Iran, which led to major fluctuations in the international oil price.

The market saw a small improvement when Brent Crude oil dropped to $95 per barrel after the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire and entered negotiations to end the fighting.

However, prices bounced back to over $100 per barrel after the talks failed and the US imposed a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Consequently, the average international product price for petrol and diesel increased during the period under review.

The rand also depreciated against the US dollar over the period from 27 March to 29 April 2026, dropping to around R16.63/dollar.

This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Price of 0.360c/l for petrol, and 0.540c/l for diesel.

In line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, a Slate Levy of 122.70 c/l will be implemented into the price structures of petrol and diesel.

The good news for motorists is that the government has decided to extend its fuel tax relief measure, which was previously set to expire at the start of May.

This means that the General Fuel Levy will once again by reduced by R3.00 per litre for petrol, while the diesel tax is being reduced even further to zero, shaving another 93c off the fuel price.

What you’re paying this May

The new fuel price adjustments will take effect later this week, on Wednesday, 6 May 2026.

Both grades of petrol are going up by R3.27 per litre, while diesel will see an even larger hike of R6.19 per litre.

These increases will see the cost of petrol jump to R26.63 per litre, while diesel has officially breached the R30 per litre mark with a record-high wholesale price of R32.30.

The silver lining is that, while these are enormous fuel price increases, they are substantially lower than the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF’s) previous estimates.

At the start of April, the CEF warned that diesel could jump over R13 per litre, while petrol would have gone up by R4.69 per litre.

Be that as it may, motorists will still experience a lot of pain when they visit the pumps this month.

These are the official adjustments:

• Petrol 93 – Increase of R3.27 per litre
• Petrol 95 – Increase of R3.27 per litre
• Diesel 0.05% (wholesale) – Increase of R6.19 per litre
• Diesel 0.005% (wholesale) – Increase of R6.19 per litre

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