Gas prices spiking with no drop expected
Posted Apr 4, 2012 07:08:09 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Gas prices nationwide are spiking this week, and one industry analyst says they’ll keep climbing for the foreseeable future.
The price of gasoline climbed more than four cents in some parts of Ontario and Quebec Tuesday night, bringing the price to $1.401 per litre — just shy of the monthly record of $1.408 per litre, set last April.
In Halifax last week, the price jumped three cents to $1.429 per litre for regular self-serve.
Gas price analyst Roger McKnight from En-Pro International says price gouging is not the issue.
“It’s really based on an evaporation of the refining capacity in the Pennsylvania area,” he said. “We’re losing about a million barrels a day of crude production. Combine that with the situation in Europe with Petro Plus, where four refineries have shut down due to financial problems.”
Wholesale gas prices in the United States are currently at the highest level since April of last year. News 95.7 senior business editor Mike Eppel reports wholesale gasoline traded in New York as the best-performing commodity so far in 2012, up by 26 per cent.
Retail demand for gas is down, but the refinery halts are raising concern that supply may be insufficient for summer driving season.
Gas price watcher Dan McTeague says the oil industry usually tries to explain the increase by saying it’s to cover the cost of converting from winter to summer fuel.
But, McTeague, a former Liberal MP and a harsh critic of the oil industry, calls that a “lame and well-worn excuse.”
He says fuel specifications in Canada — unlike the U-S — don’t change with the seasons.
McKnight says there might be another increase of up to four cents per litre tonight in Toronto markets.
Regulated gas prices in Nova Scotia will be reset Thursday night.
