By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has published the official fuel price adjustments for February 2023.
As projected in the last week, petrol and diesel prices will be going up in February, increasing by 28 cents and between a decrease of 1 cent and an increase of 9 cents per litre, respectively.
The changes will come into effect from Wednesday, 1 February 2023.
The department said the main factors contributing to the increases include higher prices for Brent crude oil, which increased to $85.08.
Furthermore, international prices for petroleum products and the strengthening of the rand against the US dollar also played a role.
“The movement in international refined petroleum product prices, diesel, petrol and illuminating paraffin in particular, followed the increasing trend in crude oil prices, while the prices of LP Gas decreased due to lower propane and butane prices during the period under review.
“These factors led to higher contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 92.74 c/l, 71.40 c/l and 78.21 c/l, respectively. The LPGas prices are decreasing due to the lower prices of Propane and Butane during the period under review,” it said.
The rand appreciated slightly, on average, against the US Dollar – from R17.28 to R17.00 per USD – during the period under review when compared to the previous one.
“The stronger Rand led to lower contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 15.97 c/l, 18.79 c/l and 19.36 c/l respectively.”
The negative slate balance on petrol and diesel amounted to R2.191 billion at the end of December 2022. A slate levy decrease of 43.84 c/l (from 61.38 c/l to 17.54 c/l) will be implemented into the price structures of petrol and diesel, in line with the Self-Adjusting Slate Mechanism rules effective from the 1st of February 2023.