Several factors contributed to the decrease in petrol and diesel prices.
Big petrol and diesel prices cuts from Wednesday. Picture: iStock
South African motorists will pay less for petrol and diesel from Wednesday, 4 February 2026, a much-welcomed relief.
The department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) announced that both the price of 93-octane and 95-octane petrol will decrease by 65 cents per litre.
The price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) decreases by 50 cents per litre, while diesel with 0.005% sulphur goes down by 57 cents per litre.
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Meanwhile, illuminating paraffin will cost 53 cents less per litre, while the price of LP gas increases by 31 cents/kg.
How much will fuel cost you?
When the fuel price adjustment kicks in, a litre of 93 unleaded petrol will cost R19.99, while 95 unleaded will be R19.27.
The wholesale price of 0.05% (500 PPM) diesel will decrease to R17.91 per litre, and 0.005% (50 PPM) will cost R17.95 per litre.
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Reasons for petrol price drop
DMRE spokesperson Robert Maake said that several factors, including international petroleum product prices and the rand-US dollar exchange rate, contributed to the decrease in petrol and diesel prices.
Brent Crude Oil price
Maake said the average Brent Crude oil price increased from 61.47 US Dollars (USD) to 64.08 USD during the period under review.
“The main contributing factors are the geopolitical uncertainty caused by various events relating to Iran, Greenland, Kazakhstan and Venezuela that gave rise to a risk premium and the extreme cold weather conditions which disrupted production in the US.”
Rand/US dollar exchange
He said the Rand appreciated on average, against the US Dollar (from 16.85 to 16.31 Rand per USD) during the period under review, when compared to the previous one.
“This led to lower contributions to the Basic Fuel Prices of petrol, diesel and Illuminating Paraffin by 28.52 c/l, 31.62 c/l and 31.86 c/l respectively.”
Slate levy
Maake said the cumulative slate amounted to a positive balance of R5.064 billion for petrol and diesel at the end of December 2025.
“In line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, the slate levy remains unchanged at zero cents per litre (0.00c/l) in the price structures of petrol and diesel with effect from 4 February 2026.
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