We could be in for a huge petrol price drop in September. It is thought that the price of petrol could come down by as much as R1 a litre and R1.60 for diesel. That is if the world oil prices remain low and the rand remains strong. We will only know for certain come the 3rd of September as fuel prices come into effect on the first Wednesday of every month. Whilst most consumers will be happy if the prices go down by that much, fuel stations owners will not be too happy with this news.

Fuel station owners who bought fuel at the more expensive price will sell it at a loss as of the day of the change. On top of this, motorists will wait for the lower price before they fill up their vehicles. What this means is that, fuel stations could keep their supplies low until the Tuesday (2 September), or they might even allow supply to run out. Oil companies will then struggle on the Wednesday to meet the demand. Now if fuel stations do not want to stock up before the Tuesday that means there could be a potential shortage of fuel being sold by the fuel stations.

It makes business sense for fuel stations not to stock up at the high prices and then have to sell it at a lower price. But if fuel stations take this route then we could have a couple of days where we can not buy fuel as the fuel stations will have no stock. But it could not get that bad as, Peter Noke, national director of the South African Petrol Retailers’ Association (Sapra), says the organisation has asked oil companies to supply fuel to petrol stations at already slightly cheaper prices, even before the price decrease. This will help spread out the losses.

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