Fuel prices may bring welcome news in January after the exchange rate has appreciated significantly over the last two weeks due to the general expectation that Cyril Ramaphosa would be elected as the new president of the ANC at the 54rd conference of Nasrec in Johannesburg, says independent economist Fanie Brink.
According to the latest information from the Department of Energy, the prices of gasoline 93 (ULP & LRP) in Gauteng on Wednesday, 3 January 2017 could possibly decrease by 7,8 cents per liter and the price of diesel with a 0,005% sulphur content possibly by 7,1 cents per liter,despite the fact that the international price of crude oil has risen to almost $65 a barrel over the last two weeks, the highest level since April 2015.
The work on one of the most important oil pipelines in the world, the North Sea oil pipeline, which will take two weeks to repair a crack, has put pressure on the Brent crude oil price. The members of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries also decided two weeks ago to extend their agreement to reduce their production further from April next year until the end of 2018.
Because of this further increase in the crude oil price, it is expected that the average international price of gasoline may increase by 16,0 cents per liter in January and the diesel price by 17,7 cents per liter.
The daily average R/$ exchange rate that has strengthened to almost R/$13 over the last two weeks is expected to result in a decrease of 23,8 cents per liter in the gasoline price and 24,8 cents per liter in the diesel price.
The final price changes will be announced by the Minister of Energy.
Source
Department of Energy
