Petrol price to drop

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Pretoria - Cash strapped consumers are to receive a reprieve this month as the petrol price is set to come down by between 69 and 68 cents this week.

The Department of Energy announced that a litre of 95 ULP and LRP will decrease by 68 cents while that of 93 Octane, ULP and LRP will come down by 69 cents a litre.

Consumers will now pay R12.86 a litre as of Wednesday when the new prices come into effect.

This is a second consecutive month in which the price of petrol has come down.

In addition, both grades of Diesel (0.05% sulphur) and 0.005% sulphur will come down by 60 cents while the price of Illuminating Paraffin (wholesale) will drop by 57 cents a litre.

The cost of Illuminating Paraffin (SMNRP) will decrease by 76 cents while the maximum retail price of LPGas  will come down by 92 cents.

In a statement on Saturday, the department said that during the period under review the rand strengthened against the US Dollar in addition to the fact that prices of petroleum products decreased in international markets.

“The prices of petroleum products decreased, on average, in the international markets in line with the lower crude oil prices. Oil Prices have reached their lowest point for the year as light sweet crude supplies particularly from the United States as well as Libya and Nigeria (unbound by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut agreement) continue to rise,” said the department.

Brent Crude Oil prices declined to a seven-month low and the U.S. crude settled at its cheapest level since September 2016, after increased supply from several key producers. –SAnews.gov.za