Petrol price drops significantly

Motorists will pay R1.74  less for a litre of fuel with effect from Wednesday morning.

The price of diesel went down by R1.61 cents per litre and illuminating paraffin by R2.23 cents per litre at midnight.

In the video below, Edgar Mafoko looks at the mpact of low oil prices on consumers:

Plummeting oil prices caused by a virtual halt in global economic activity during the coronavirus pandemic has led to the decrease.

However, it would have been more had the Rand not depreciated against the US dollar.

Oil price crashes

US crude oil futures collapsed below $0 on Monday for the first time in history, amid a coronavirus-induced supply glut, ending the day at a stunning minus $37.63 a barrel as desperate traders paid to get rid of oil.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, also slumped, but that contract was nowhere near as weak because more storage is available worldwide.

While US oil prices are trading in negative territory for the first time ever, it is unclear whether that will trickle down to consumers, who typically see lower oil prices translate into cheaper gasoline at the pump.

As billions of people around the globe stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, physical demand for crude has dried up, creating a global supply glut.

Traders fled from the expiring May US oil futures contract in a frenzy on Monday with no place to put the crude, but the June WTI contract settled at a much higher level of $20.43 a barrel.

The video below, is reporting on the historical drop of US crude oil: