B.C. gas prices could come down ‘a fair bit’: expert

If your fuel gauge is nudging towards empty, try to hold off on filling up your tank for a few days as one gas expert says prices in B.C. could come down considerably by the end of the week.

Prices have topped $2 per litre at multiple stations around Metro Vancouver for some time, but one expert tells CityNews he expects a price drop to come soon.

“I think we can expect prices will come down a fair bit because they have been unusually high over the last two, three weeks,” Werner Antweiler, an economics professor at the University of British Columbia, said.

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Antweiler attributes the decline in prices to refinery margins, which are approximately 30 cents lower than their usual level for this time of year.

“That is, in part, driven by shortages in supplies or refined products. [Which is] a purely local problem,” he said.

“We expect that to ease up, and that should bring prices down in the next number of days.”

Why have prices been so high? 

Gas prices in Vancouver have been consistently high over the past few weeks, sitting well above $2.00 per litre.

“We when look at diesel prices, they have barely moved in the last little while, they actually have come down. It’s only gas prices that have gone up,” Antweiler said.

“Typically, at this time of year some refineries go down for maintenance. But there’s also a capacity issue getting refined products to the Trans Mountain Pipeline, as we are getting refined products not only from our refinery that’s local in Burnaby, but also refineries in Edmonton. And if there is any capacity shortage on the Trans Mountain Pipeline, that often translates into higher prices on a monthly basis as the capacity is a portion on a monthly level.”

Summer prices expected to be high 

Antweiler expects prices to be slightly elevated since the summer is the ‘driving season’ but he does point out there has not been a significant spike in demand.

“I do expect prices to level out, as the transportation capacity should open up again for delivering refined products,” he said.

“And that actually is, in part, only visible in the wholesale prices for gasoline. That should filter down into lower retail prices. We should see that over the next weeks.”