Metro Vancouver gas prices rise amid refinery issues, increased demand

Drivers around Metro Vancouver may notice gas prices have spiked to start the work week, with many stations posting a litre of regular for more than $1.80.

Some stations were selling a litre of regular for $1.86 Monday. This comes after the price at the pump crept up over the weekend, with GasBuddy.com noting the average retail price in the Vancouver region has risen 4.6 cents a litre over the past week.

“This compares with the national average that has increased 3.4 c/L in the last week to 150.82 c/L,” the tech company notes.

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This is the most expensive gas has been for this time of year in five years, with GasBuddy adding historical data shows prices on Jan. 23, 2022 in Vancouver hovered around the $1.68 mark.

Analysts blame U.S. refinery issues, as well as an uptick in demand, for the increase around Metro Vancouver.

“Macroeconomic factors have continued to weigh on oil and refined products, as strong demand in China hasn’t been slowed much by a surge in new [COVID] cases. In addition, releases of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve have wrapped up. Concerns are increasing that without additional oil, supply will tighten in the weeks ahead, especially as the nation starts to move away from softer demand in the height of winter. Moving forward, it doesn’t look good for motorists, with prices likely to continue accelerating,” explained Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

Last week, experts at Kalibrate suggested prices could surpass the $2.60 mark by the summer.

“Your wholesale price, excluding tax, isn’t substantially higher than the rest of the country … but once we roll in the taxes and all of the additional charges to the fuels, we see B.C. start to come in as one of the higher priced regimes, even when we look across Canada,” Paul Pasco, principal consultant at Kalibrate, said, noting the price is also expected to be driven by refinery issues and transport.