B.C. gas prices could drop slightly, analyst says
Posted October 10, 2022 10:04 am.
While much of North America is likely to see a rise in the price of gas, the west coast could see a drop in cost.
Head of Petroleum Analysis for the website GasBuddy, Patrick De Haan, says the recent jump in prices at the pump comes from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC+) decision to cut oil production, resulting in a 20 per cent hike in prices over the past three weeks.
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“Some of the refinery snags that have caused prices to surge in the West and Great Lakes appear to be improving, with prices in those two regions likely to inch down, even with OPEC’s decision, as the drop in wholesale prices has offset the rise due to the production cut,” De Haan said in a release.
De Haan says the West Coast and the Great Lakes regions are the exceptions to otherwise rising prices in North America, suggesting “downdrafts” in the cost at the pump in those areas in the days and weeks ahead.
Despite this, B.C. gas prices are still the highest in North America, with the average cost around $2.23/litre as of Monday, according to Gas Buddy. The website’s metrics suggest the province’s average price is nearly 50 cents per litre higher than the Canadian average ($1.72/litre) and the American average $1.08/litre).
B.C. (blue) is seeing the average price of gas about 50 cents more than the Canadian average (red) and over a dollar more than the American average (green). (Courtesy GasBuddy.com)
The website says prices in the province have risen an average of 35 cents per litre since last month, and are up nearly 67 cents from this time last year.
