August’s official petrol and diesel prices have arrived after much, much deliberation. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Central Energy Fund (CEF) proclaimed that motorists had a R2/l price cut to look forward to this August. Since then, however, things have turned nasty, with increasing oil prices sending the price of fuel sky high.
Sort of. See, in the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources’ (DMPR) published adjustments, it notes that it’s cutting the Slate Levy by R0.53/l, which has somewhat spared the price of fuel for August. This result is a 52c/l decrease on the price of petrol, while also significantly softening the blow on the incoming diesel price hike.
Petrol’s narrow escape
There’s no need to rush out to the nearest garage just yet. As ever, the DMPR will only adjust the country’s pumps on the first Wednesday of the new month — 5 August in this case. You will, however, want to take advantage of the current price of diesel before the price goes up by as much as R1.38/l across South Africa this Wednesday.
You can thank the US and Iran’s ongoing war for the increased prices. Earlier this year, their squabble sent oil prices shooting beyond $100/barrel. These eventually dropped back to ‘normal’, hovering around $70/barrel, before the countries rekindled their passions and sent prices back up. These have since settled around the still-too-high price of $83/barrel. The Rand also weakened throughout July, adding to the incoming hike.
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Still, the changes made to the Slate Levy are welcome, even if they primarily benefit the country’s petrol drivers.
“The Rand depreciated 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 26 June 2026 to 30 July 2026 was 16.4554 compared to 16.3774 during the previous period. This led to a higher contribution to the Basic Fuel Prices on petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 6.369 c/l, 8.141 c/l, 7.888 c/l respectively,” wrote the DMPR.
From 00:01 on the morning of Wednesday, 5 August 2026, petroleum-based fuels will see the following changes:
- Petrol 93: decrease of 52 cents per litre (R0.52)
- Petrol 95: decrease of 52 cents per litre (R0.52)
- Diesel 0.05%: increase of 138 cents per litre (R1.38)
- Diesel 0.005%: increase of 123 cents per litre (R1.23)
- Illuminating Paraffin (Wholesale): increase of 152 cents per litre (R1.52)
- LPGAS: decrease of 441 cents per kilogram (R4.41)
