Petrol Price Dropping- Official November Fuel Price

The Department of Energy has published the official petrol price changes, that will come into effect on Wednesday, 4 November.

Motorists will see price drops across all grades of petrol – while illuminating paraffin users will see prices climb.

The changes are as follows:

• Petrol 95:  27 cents per litre decrease;
• Petrol 93: 27 cents per litre decrease;
• Diesel 0.05%: 12 cents per litre decrease;
• Diesel 0.005%: 11 cents per litre decrease;
• Illuminating Paraffin: 15 cents per litre increase.

The change in prices are due to a stronger rand versus the US dollar, as well as lower international petroleum prices.

The average international product prices for petrol and diesel decreased whilst illuminating paraffin increased during the period under review.

The rand firmed against a struggling dollar, on average, when compared to the previous period.

The average rand/US dollar exchange rate for the period 02 October 2020 to 29 October 2020 was R16.46 compared to R16.72 during the previous period. This led to a lower contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 7.91 c/l, 7.56 c/l and 7.16 c/l respectively.

The Automobile Association said the appreciation of the rand has been the main driving force behind lower prices.

“This gradual appreciation has been mirrored by international oil prices, which softened throughout the month, with steeper reductions seen over the past ten days,” the AA said.

The association said further that exchange rate and oil pricing data has shown more stability over the past two months, suggesting that fuel prices have reached an equilibrium.

“We are hoping that this is the case, because fuel price stability would come as a welcome relief to individuals and corporates alike in the current economic conditions,” it said.

Oil prices continued to come under pressure, particularly in the last part of October as fresh Covid-19 related lockdowns in Europe has taken a heavy toll on crude prices.

The Financial Times reported that Brent crude dropped as much as 4.6% to $35.74 a barrel on Monday, “hitting its lowest level since May as economists downgraded their European growth forecasts in response to the roll out of stricter virus restrictions throughout the eurozone”. However, it recovered somewhat in the afternoon session, to trade at around $37.

This is how prices will reflect at the pumps: