Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has announced that the price of petrol 93 and 95 will decrease by 65c/l from February 4, while the price of diesel (0.05% sulphur) will decrease by 50c/l and diesel (0.005% sulphur) by 57c/l.

The average Brent Crude oil price increased from $61.47/bl to $64.08/bl during the period under review.

The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) says, in a media release, that the main contributing factors to this increase 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.

Additionally, the average international product prices decreased owing to availability of inventories, despite increase in crude oil prices.

These factors led to lower contributions to the basic fuel prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 36.46c/l, 24.59c/l and 21.13c/l, respectively.

The department explains that the prices of propane and butane increased during the period under review owing to the cold weather in the northern hemisphere and tighter global supply.

Moreover, the rand appreciated on average, against the dollar – from R16.85/$ to R16.31/$ – during the period under review, when compared with the previous one.

This led to lower contributions to the basic fuel prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin by 28.52c/l, 31.62c/l and 31.86c/l, respectively.

The department also explains that the cumulative slate amounted to a positive balance of R5.06-billion for petrol and diesel at the end of December 2025.

In line with the provisions of the Self-Adjusting Slate Levy Mechanism, the DMPR says the slate levy remains unchanged at zero cents a litre in the price structures of petrol and diesel with effect from February 4.