Due to a constrained global supply and high demand for this fuel type, diesel has become more expensive than petrol in South Africa after September's decline in fuel prices.
Even though diesel is often the less expensive fuel, this is not the first time it has happened.
Diesel is typically the more affordable fuel type in many nations since it is less refined than petrol and hence less expensive to produce.
Both fuel kinds are currently at or very close to their all-time highs as a result of the high price of international oil.
But it's not so much the input costs as it is the straightforward law of supply and demand that accounts for diesel's obstinacy in continuing to trade above the R23 level.
Many market participants have been storing diesel to use for machinery, house heating, and emergency supplies due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the impending winter in the Eurozone. Due to the fact that petrol is used in the majority of cars worldwide, diesel also holds a smaller share of the market.
As a result, diesel prices did not significantly decline in September, unlike petrol, which did not face the same price stickiness.
The continuation of the war and the resulting Russian oil supplies are the major factors determining when the high global fuel prices will end.
For there to be any real shift in fuel prices, the war must cease or other nations must increase their oil production.
Other options are being looked into as well, but few of them are currently developed enough to be put into practice, and even if they are, it will be some time before they affect fuel prices.
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