Newcomers to the petrol party over on Stuff won’t understand why we’re so giddy about the Central Energy Fund’s (CEF) latest petrol and diesel price predictions for the first month of 2024. It might seem obvious, considering the CEF is forecasting another drop in the country’s fuel prices — for the third month in a row.

Our old hands, though, know just how rare it is to come off better in a fight with the Department of Mineral Resources two months in a row, let alone three. Petrol saw R1.78 and R0.65 drops in November and December respectively, with diesel seeing similar-enough drops of R0.85 and R2.40.

Could this be a diesel Christmas miracle?

Should the country play its cards right — meaning no sudden returns to Stage 6 (we’re looking at you, Eskom) — we could have another half-decent price decrease on our hands before the country has to go back to work. For the second month running, it’s looking like it’ll be diesel drivers who hold the bragging rights, with the CEF’s predictions pointing to a R1+ drop.

Whether the country will come out on the other side of 2023 with these prices is another matter altogether. The CEF cannot control South Africa’s fuel prices — that’s a job for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy — but it pulls out a fairly reliable figure based on the current price of refined oil globally and the Rand/US Dollar exchange of the moment.