As it does most months, the petrol price is increasing, with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy confirming that a litre of 95 unleaded petrol (ULP) in Gauteng will rise by 91 cents as of Wednesday. This means a litre will now cost R18.30 per litre.

Consequently, there will likely be a scramble at most petrol stations across the country this evening.

Along with petrol, the department confirmed increases across the board for other fuels, with diesel (0.05 percent Sulphur) increasing by 55.58 cents a litre and diesel (0.005 percent Sulphur) costing 54.58 cents more a litre. Added to this, the price of illuminating paraffin (wholesale) will increase by 50 cents and illuminating paraffin (SMNRP) will rise by 67 cents.

As for gas, the maximum retail price for LPGAS will increase by 226 cents per kilogram.

As always, a number of factors have been cited for the increase. Among the reasons is the performance of our currency and crude oil prices.

“The Rand depreciated, on average, against the US Dollar (from 13.92 to 14.54 Rand per USD) during the period under review when compared to the previous one. This led to higher contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 43.73 c/l, 32.37 c/l and 31.42 c/l respectively,” explained the department in a press statement.

“The average Brent Crude oil price increased from 73.00USD to 74.00USD per barrel during the period under review. The American Petroleum Institute reported that the decline in the crude oil inventories reached a total of nearly 54 million barrels and this contributed to higher oil prices during July 2021,” it added.

If you have the opportunity to fuel up before this evening, it may be a good idea to do so, especially with the 22:00 curfew under adjusted level 3 lockdown currently in effect.

[Image – Photo by Jean-christophe Gougeon on Unsplash]