Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to announce an emergency fuel price intervention in the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon, Fin24 has learnt.

Parliament's programming committee was told on Thursday morning that Godongwana would address the National Assembly on the intervention later today.

Last week, the finance minister said in Parliament that National Treasury and other government departments were in "sensitive discussions" about interventions to ease the pressure of fuel prices on South Africans.

On Wednesday, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy submitted a formal proposal to Treasury and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to consider introducing a tax holiday on fuel to ease the pressure on South Africans.

If government suspends the general fuel levy, this would save motorists R3.93 per litre.

According to the latest data from the Central Energy Fund, 95 octane petrol is set to increase by R1.84/litre, 93 octane is expected to climb by R1.76/l, diesel by between R2.98/l and R3.14/l on Wednesday next week.

This would push the price of 95 petrol to around R23.44 – 35% higher than a year ago, when a litre cost R17.32.

Local fuel prices are determined by international oil prices, as well as the dollar-rand value, as South Africa buys oil in dollars.

Oil prices have been soaring over the past month amid the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia is the world’s third-largest producer of crude oil, and the expectation that it will be locked out of the market has caused a surge in oil prices. Traders are scrambling to secure oil supplies with Russia, unable to deliver some of its oils due to shipping and banking restrictions.