Latest projection on August diesel price increase

GIVEN THE current oil prices and SA’s over/under-recovery data, the latest projection from diesel wholesalers, LadyPrada Consultants, is for an August diesel price increase of 45c-55c a litre. This follows a moment of optimism from its last projection, when LadyPrada’s Dot Engelbrecht noted an over-recovery at the end of the first week of the month, and the faintest of chances that the fuel price might level out, or even see a small drop in price. But that was a temporary situation, with last week’s department of energy calculations showing a 19c/l under-recovery for petrol, and a 31c/l under-recovery for diesel. But there was other cheerful news to consider. According to Engelbrecht, oil prices fell sharply early last week on concerns that a slowing US economy would decrease demand for oil. “Crude oil,” she added, “had hit both new intra-day and closing-price records – trading at near US$147.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in intra-day trading, before falling to close the trading week at US$138.32. “The price of crude oil in New York at one point fell more than US$9 a barrel in New York trading, the biggest one-day drop in dollar terms in 17-years.”