Good news for petrol vehicle owners, bad news for diesel drivers

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The mid-month petrol and diesel price projections show there’s likely to be mixed news at the pumps in early August for South Africa’s motorists.

Petrol is set to drop in price, while the diesel price will hit motorists harder in the pocket should market conditions remain the same for the next three weeks.

Below, the latest projections as received by The South African website from the Central Energy Fund (CEF), effective Monday, 14 July.

FUEL	PRICE CHANGE
Petrol 93	decrease of 24 cents
Petrol 95	decrease of 20 cents
Diesel 0.05%	increase of 63 cents
Diesel 0.005%	increase of 62 cents
Illuminating Paraffin	increase of 26 cents

If the market conditions were to remain consistent for the remainder of the month – an unlikely scenario with the rand/dollar exchange rate fluctuating and the oil price ever changing – a decrease of 24 cents is expected for petrol 93 octane motorists and a decrease of 20 cents for 95 users.

Meanwhile, diesel motorists would see something between a 62 and 63 cents per litre increase.

Finally, illuminating paraffin is expected to rise by 26 cents in price.

FUEL PRICE IN SOUTH AFRICA IMPACTED BY TWO MAIN FACTORS:

1. The international price of petroleum products, driven mainly by oil prices

2. The rand/dollar exchange rate used in the purchase of these products

Oil price

At the time of publishing the brent crude oil price is $68.78 a barrel.

Exchange rate

At the time of publishing the rand/dollar exchange rate is R17.83/$.

The final overall price changes for both petrol and diesel will be confirmed early next month with the new prices taking effect at midnight on Tuesday, 5 August 2025.

Go easy on the accelerator until then, Mzansi.