{"id":416387,"date":"2020-07-15T10:26:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T08:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=416387"},"modified":"2020-07-15T10:37:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T08:37:05","slug":"here-is-the-expected-petrol-price-for-august-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/416387\/here-is-the-expected-petrol-price-for-august-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Here is the expected petrol price for August"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African motorists can expect further increases at the pumps in August, on the back of higher oil prices, and despite a stronger rand.<\/p>\n

Mid-month data published by the Central Energy Fund<\/a> (CEF), shows that if market conditions persist at current levels, motorists can expect a price hike of around 34 cents per litre of petrol, and 68 cents for diesel next month.<\/p>\n

The projected price changes would follow sizable hikes over the past two months, with petrol having increased by R1.72 per litre, and diesel by R1.73 per litre in July.<\/p>\n

The rand\/dollar exchange rate \u2013 also a big factor in determining local fuel prices \u2013 has worked in South Africa\u2019s favour in the month to-date, undercutting some of the increases seen due to climbing oil prices.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Exchange rate<\/strong><\/p>\n

After hitting almost R19.00 to the dollar during the nationwide lockdown, the rand has staged a significant recovery, dipping below R17.00 against the greenback in recent sessions.<\/p>\n

It strengthened further on Tuesday as US data helped to bolster some risk appetite, said Bianca Botes, executive director at Peregrine Treasury Solutions.<\/p>\n

The local unit was at R16.63 in mid-morning trade on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the rand is likely to make further gains on global data showing a lessening in the weakness of Q2.2020\u2019s economic performance, this does not mean there will be a steady recovery, and the domestic currency will remain volatile,\u201d Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop warned in a note.<\/p>\n

Oil prices<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oil edged higher this week after a report pointed to a drop in US crude stockpiles and on signs that additional supply from OPEC+ next month won\u2019t be as much as previously anticipated, Bloomberg<\/a> <\/strong>reported.<\/p>\n

Futures in New York traded near $40.50 a barrel, while Brent Crude was at $43.45 per barrel.<\/p>\n

The American Petroleum Institute reported that US inventories fell by 8.32 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data.<\/p>\n

That would be the largest drawdown since December if confirmed by official figures due Wednesday, suggesting a supply glut is easing.<\/p>\n

For Brent, the market structure indicates that while there\u2019s still some concern about over-supply, it\u2019s eased slightly, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n

These are the expected changes at mid-June:<\/p>\n