Petrol will cost 1 cent a litre less from Wednesday 4 November, while diesel falls by 109.82 cents a litre, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources said on Tuesday.
Minister Gwede Mantashe announced the November adjustments. Petrol 93 and petrol 95 each drop by 1 cent a litre. Diesel with 0.05% sulphur falls by 109.82 cents and the 0.005% grade by 119.82 cents. Illuminating paraffin (wholesale) rises by R2.75 a litre, and the maximum retail price of LPGas rises by 183 cents a kilogram, or 208 cents in the Western Cape.
Costs rose, pump prices did not
The cost of the fuel itself rose. The department said the average Brent crude price increased from US$101 to US$108 a barrel over the review period, because of uncertainty from the Middle East conflict, recent attacks on Saudi Arabian infrastructure and high freight and insurance costs. The rand weakened on average from R16.21 to R16.55 against the dollar.
Together, those changes added 80.41 cents a litre to the basic fuel price of petrol and 94.22 cents to diesel. The rand’s weakness accounted for 36.93 cents of the petrol increase and 49.00 cents of the diesel increase.
Pump prices still fall in the same month that the fuel levy cut starts. In the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on 21 October, Godongwana said the levy would be cut by R1.50 a litre for petrol and R3 for diesel from 4 November to 1 December. The department’s announcement lists the Slate Levy among the factors in the adjustment but does not itemise the levy cut or reconcile it with the basic fuel price rise. The fuel levy story has the detail.
Source: Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, History of Fuel Prices, October 2026; November 2026 is our calculation from the announced change. Chart: Rand Desk
Diesel and paraffin
Diesel gets the larger levy cut, R3 a litre, and its price falls by more than R1. By our calculation, 0.05% diesel moves from R31.95 to about R30.85 a litre wholesale inland.
On paraffin, the department said the increase came from higher international prices and the weaker rand, which added 225.23 cents and 49.26 cents respectively to the basic fuel price.
What the department said about diesel
“Middle distillate prices are mainly affected by tight global supply, higher seasonal demand ahead of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere and continued Russia/Ukraine conflict,” the department said. The department added that the pressure persisted despite G7 efforts to raise diesel supply, Russia sanctions waivers by the US and the lifting of Russian export restrictions.
What comes next
The levy relief shrinks to R1 a litre on petrol and R1.50 on diesel after 1 December and ends on 5 January 2027. The fuel price formula explainer sets out how each month’s change is built.
