By Kaya 959 Reporter
Motorists are expected to fork out a lot more for fuel in the coming weeks.
The Automobile Association (AA) says current data is predicting fuel price hikes of catastrophic proportions at the end of October for November.
“The current picture is showing petrol up by 99 cents a litre, and diesel and illuminating paraffin higher by a whopping R1.42 a litre. This will push 95 ULP inland above R19/l (close to R19.30/l), and R17/l for diesel.
“Taking this potential increase into account, the price of a litre of fuel inland (95 ULP) will have increased from R14.86/l in January to R19.30/l in November – a 30% increase over 11 months,” the AA says.
The association says the hikes in diesel and illuminating paraffin would be the largest in South African history. It is important to note that the data is only based on half a month’s data.
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Demand for oil increases
The AA says there is not much hope for an improvement before the end of October.
“R20 a litre for petrol is now a realistic scenario before the end of 2021.”
The AA adds that Brent Crude has broken through the 85 US dollars per barrel mark. It says the basket of oil prices used to calculate South Africa’s oil price are following Brent higher.
The Association says it does not expect the oil price squeeze to ease in the short term, especially as the demand for oil will increase as the north enters its winter season.
The AA further notes that over the first half of October, the average Rand / US dollar exchange rate jumped from around R14.55 to R14.90.
It says the Rand is still far above its June level of below R13.50 to the dollar but that the strengthening trend lasting nearly 15 months was abruptly reversed in June.
Here are projected fuel increases, according to Business Tech:
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Petrol 95: increase of 98 cents per litre;
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Petrol 93: increase of 96 cents per litre;
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Diesel 0.05%: increase of R1.41 per litre;
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Diesel 0.005%: increase of R1.42 cents per litre;
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Illuminating Paraffin: increase R1.42 per litre.
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