South Africa’s Department of Energy has announced that the price of 95 octane petrol will increase by 18 cents per litre effective midnight of Wednesday, 2 October.

Diesel and Illuminating paraffin will increase by 25 cents a litre while Octane 98 will drop by 4 cents per litre.

October is the eighth consecutive month fuel prices are hiked since the beginning of the year.

New fuel prices are announced on a monthly basis, informed by different international and local factors including global supply and demand.

Fuel prices are incredibly unstable, altering quickly in response to news periods, policy adjustments and fluctuations in the world’s markets.

The Energy Department cited the Saudi Arabia attack as the reason why the fuel prices are going up.

“Had it not been for the stronger rand during this period, the impact of the attacks on Saudi facilities on prices would have been more severe,” Gwede Mantashe, the minister responsible for mining and energy said.

Energy Department’s Robert Maake said things could get worse over the next few months if retaliation attacks are plotted. “If they decide to revenge on whoever who attacked them, then it could lead to another hike in the crude oil price and affect us negatively.”

On Sept. 14, the world received news that Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure suffered one of the biggest blow after its critical processing facilities were attacked.

The Saudi oil attacks led to the biggest spurt in global prices since 1988.

Two sites were damaged by the attack decreasing Saudi Arabia’s oil production by 5.7 million barrels a day, from approximately 9.8 million. It was one of the largest disruptions to the oil market ever.

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