Petrol and diesel drop on 4 November. Here's what you'll save per tank

Petrol and diesel are set to get cheaper on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, election day. Month-end Central Energy Fund (CEF) data, read together with Treasury's temporary fuel levy cut, points to petrol dropping by roughly 23c to 49c a litre and diesel by about R1.57 to R1.68 a litre (BusinessTech, IOL).

These are projections, not official prices. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) still has to announce the final adjustment, which usually comes a few days before the change takes effect (BusinessTech).

How much will petrol and diesel drop on 4 November?

The forecasts differ slightly, because each uses CEF data up to a different day:

Sources: BusinessTech, IOL, Psyphin fuel forecast. BusinessTech lists the October 0.005% diesel price as R33.29 and Psyphin as R32.80, so we've left it out of the table.

How much will you save on a tank?

On a 50-litre tank, the projected cuts work out to:

These are our own calculations from the projections above. Diesel prices at the pump also include retail margins that vary by garage, so your exact saving may differ.

Why are prices falling when oil is so expensive?

Without government help, both fuels would be going up. The CEF's final October data shows under-recoveries of about R1.01 to R1.17 a litre on petrol and R1.32 to R1.42 on diesel, which normally means a price hike (BusinessTech).

What flips it is the general fuel levy cut Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on 21 October: R1.50 a litre off petrol and R3 a litre off diesel from 4 November (SAnews). Brent crude is above $111 a barrel and the rand has weakened to around R16.60 to the dollar, so the market itself isn't helping (BusinessTech).

Could the final cut be smaller?

Yes. The projections don't include changes to the slate levy, which covers the fuel price fund's shortfall. It went up to 87.6c a litre in October because of a negative slate balance of R10.456 billion at the end of August, and a further increase would eat into the cut (BusinessTech).

What happens in December and January?

The relief is temporary. After 1 December the levy cut shrinks to R1 a litre for petrol and R1.50 for diesel, and it ends on 5 January 2027 (IOL). That means 50c a litre of petrol relief and R1.50 a litre of diesel relief falls away in December, before oil prices and the rand are even counted.

Petrol has still risen by more than R10 a litre and diesel by almost R15 a litre since March, so November's cut only claws back a small part of that (BusinessTech).

Where will the official prices be published?

The DMPR publishes the official monthly adjustment on its petrol price media release page. We'll update this article once the official November prices are out.