The price of petrol will decrease by 12 cents a litre while diesel will see an increase of at least 98c/l on Wednesday.

Mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday announced the adjustment of fuel prices based on local and international factors.

“SA’s fuel prices are adjusted on a monthly basis, informed by international and local factors. International factors include the fact that SA imports both crude oil and finished products at a price set at the international level, including importation costs such as shipping costs,” his department said.

The main reasons for the fuel price adjustments included crude oil prices, international petroleum product prices, the rand/US dollar exchange rate and the short-term relief measure.

“The average Brent Crude oil price decreased from $109.37 to $104.78 during the period under review. The main contributing factors are Covid-19 restrictions in China, which is a huge importer of crude oil, which have led to reduced demand for crude oil. Furthermore, the US announced the release of crude oil strategic stocks to curb crude oil price increases,” the department said.

“The impact of these two factors was not that significant as the average price of crude oil only decreased slightly during the period under review and is still high. The main contributing factor to high crude oil prices is the concern caused by the continued Russia/Ukraine conflict, as Russia is one of the biggest global exporters of oil.”

While the average international product prices of petrol decreased, diesel and illuminating paraffin increased during the period under review.

“This is because there is still a shortage of diesel supply due to lower exports from Russia as a major exporter of distillate fuel, low inventories globally and higher demand for distillates.”

TimesLIVE