Here is the official petrol price for December

Motorists will get a mixed bag of fuel prices in December, with petrol prices set to drop and diesel prices climbing next week.

The Department of Energy has published the official fuel price changes coming on Wednesday (2 December), which will reflect the following changes:

• Petrol 95: decrease of 13 cents per litre;
• Petrol 93: decrease of 13 cents per litre;
• Diesel 0.05%: increase of 20 cents per litre;
• Diesel 0.005%: increase of 20 cents per litre;
• Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 29 cents per litre.

The movement in prices is affected by two main factors – international petroleum costs, and the movement in the rand/dollar exchange rate.

The average international product prices for Petrol decreased whilst Diesel and Illuminating Paraffin increased during the period under review. Meanwhile, the rand appreciated against the US dollar during the period under review, on average, when compared to the previous period.

The average rand/US dollar exchange rate for the period 30 October 2020 to 26 November 2020 was 15.6305 compared to 16.4657 during the previous period.

This led to a lower contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 25.86 c/l, 26.12 c/l and 25.14 c/l respectively.

However, a third factor will come into play in December, with the department increasing the annual margin on fuel prices.

In line with the application of the Regulatory Accounts System, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy has approved a net increase of 14.3 c/l in the annual margin adjustments on petrol and a net increase of 7.86 c/l on diesel and illuminating paraffin wholesale prices, with effect from 2 December 2020.

Because of this, a petrol price decrease that would have been around 27 cents per litre is now much lower – while the 12 cents per litre increase for diesel is now higher.

This is how the changes will reflect at the pumps:

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