Fuel Prices South Africa

Part of: GIZ International Fuel Price database
Also see: South Africa Energy Situation

Fuel Pricing Policies

Local Currency:	ZAR
Exchange Rate:	7.00221 (2010/11/17)
Last Update:

The “Energy Department of South Africa” is a governmental institution in charge of regulating fuel prices. The “National Petroleum, Gas and Oil Corporation of South Africa” (PetroSA) is the national oil company, operating refineries and oil rigs.

Fuel prices are calculated based on elaborated formulas and methods. The Basic Fuel Price (BFP) is the refinery price for one litre of fuel, including the price for crude oil and any import, handling and (sea-)transportation costs. Inland transportation costs, wholesale margins and distribution costs are calculated taking into account the approximate, actual costs and also some limited commercial profit (between 10% and 20% on the depreciated book value of assets per year, calculated for a fictive, average company; if the actual value exceeds this intervall, margins are recalculated).

Pump prices for petrol and wholesale prices for diesel are regulated – i.e. the retail margins for diesel are liberal (see 2.).

Slate Levy / Slate Account: Since the BFP changes daily (because of the crude oil price and the US$ exchange rate), but fuel prices are regulated only monthly, differences arise. I.e. customers pay too much on some days or too less on other days each month. This price differences are multiplied by the approximate amount of fuel sold at that specific day and summed up over one month. This sum is then cleared with a consistent “Slate Account”. A Slate Levy is only imposed for the next month, if this Slate Account balance drops below zero (as of September 2010, the Slate Account balances are almost +900 Mio. Rand for Petrol and ~ +310 Mio Rand for Diesel).

Several other levies are imposed, including a levy for the Road Accident Fund (RAF) of 0.72 Rand/litre (as of Nov.2010).

Fuel Prices and Trends

	Gasoline 95 Octane	Diesel
in USD*
in Local Currency

* benchmark lines: green=US price; grey=price in Spain; red=price of Crude Oil

Fuel Price Composition

Price composition for one litre of Gasoline 95 Octane as of 2010/11/03  in Guateng ("inland").

Source: http://www.energy.gov.za/files/esources/petroleum/petroleum_breakdown.html (inland, 95 octance petrol, unleaded)

Retailers set their margins for diesel freely; in Nov. 2011 it was observed ~0.50 rand (~7 US-Cents) and thus being lower than the regulated retail margin for petrol (0.81 Rand or 12 US-Cents); all other values are very similar for Diesel, see source above.

A “Slate Levy” exists, but was zero in November 2010 (see description under 3.)

An “Equalization Fund Levy” for equalising fuel prices exists, but is usually set to zero.

All documents from the web distinguish between coastal prices (cheapest) and inland prices, varying through transportation costs from the coast (harbors/refineries) to regional depots. The price in the province of Guateng is used representatively for the “inland”-prices, being close to the average and also being the most populated and economically most important province of South Africa.

A constant “Demand Side Management Levy” of 0.1 Rand/litre only for 95 octane petrol is used to artificially promote the consumption of the 93 octane petrol, which is slightly cheaper to produce while exact production costs are not calculated separately.

At a Glance

Regulation-Price-Matrix	Transparency of Price Composition Transparency of Pricing Mechanism / Monitoring

All information, including mechanisms, policies and actual prices, is presented very clearly, comprehensively, up-to-date and well-structured. Statistics of (observed) Diesel pump prices might be added.

Sources to the Public

Type of Information	Web-Link / Source
Other Information	http://www.energy.gov.za/files/petroleum_frame.html (Price history, institutions, ...)
Price Composition	http://www.energy.gov.za/files/esources/petroleum/petroleum_breakdown.html
Pricing Mechanism	http://www.energy.gov.za/files/esources/petroleum/petroleum_docs1.html
Pump prices and margins	http://www.energy.gov.za/files/petroleum_frame.html (Under „Petrol Price Archive“ and „Latest Fuel Prices”. Pump prices for Diesel are not monitored.)
Wholesale Prices	http://www.energy.gov.za/files/petroleum_frame.html (Under „Petrol Price Archive“ and „Latest Fuel Prices”. Pump prices for Diesel are not monitored.)

Contact

Please find more information on GIZ International Fuel Price Database and http://www.giz.de/fuelprices

This is a living document. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us: Armin.Wagner@giz.de

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