Rustenburg - Early indications show that the price of petrol is looking set to come down while diesel will go up in October.
According to unaudited mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund, the price of both 95 octane and 93 octane petrol is set to drop by somewhere between 50 cents and R1 per litre next month, depending on how the international oil price and rand scenarios play out between now and month-end.
Diesel will likely go up by somewhere in the region of 70 cents a litre, while the price of paraffin should go up by around seven cents.
Petrol prices in South Africa are affected by the rand/dollar exchange rate, and changes to international petroleum product costs.
The petrol retail price is regulated by the government, and changed every month on the first Wednesday of the month.
Both 93 and 95 unleaded petrol decreased by R2.04 on the first Wednesday of September, bringing down the price of 95 petrol inland to R23.38 a litre, from a record high of R26.74 in July. The current price at the coast is R22.73 per litre for petrol (retail), and R23.50 per litre for diesel (wholesale).
On Wednesday, Brent crude oil was trading at $94 per barrel. The rand was trading at just above R17 against the US dollar.
* This story was edited with updated data on 15 September.
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