Gas prices will continue sliding into the summer: expert

Ahead of the weekend, there is some great news for drivers — gas prices are down around the Lower Mainland and are expected to continue dropping for the next couple of months.

Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy says the wholesale price of gasoline has dropped significantly this week, and that’s why some stations are posting roughly $1.85/L for regular.

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“Refinery maintenance has wrapped up at many refineries across the West Coast and Canada and the United States and supply is going up,” he says. “Gas prices are already down 27 cents per litre in the last month in Metro Vancouver. The average is now $1.87. We should continue to see downward pressure on prices, in fact, we could get down to $1.75 by mid-June, potentially even earlier than that.”

“We could get down to an average of $1.75, maybe even $1.65 by mid-July.”

And the good news just keeps on coming.

“And as long as there are no refineries issues, we could settle into the mid-$1 to upper-$1 range for the summer,” says De Haan.

“Certainly, we’re not going to go a $1 flat, that would be wishful thinking, but I do think we could get down to an average of $1.75, maybe even $1.65 by mid-July.”

As hopeful as this seems, he’s warning people that there are factors outside of your control that could cause another bump.

“There are always wildcards and many of us, especially on the West Coast, know things can change very quickly when it comes to these refineries that we rely on. Should one of them go down, it can become problematic. And I would remind folks that refineries are in the business of refining. They are not profitable when they are down for maintenance. I know there are a lot of folks out there that like to suggest that these events are planned or somehow known in advance. It’s in oil companies’ and refineries’ best interest to make sure they’re able to turn out product to meet demand.”

De Haan says the war in the Middle East and other recent events in that region hasn’t had a huge impact on local gas prices.

“It is worth watching though. Iran is a major oil producer, but with everything that’s happening with the death of Iran’s president and now new elections, there may be a slight increase in risk there, but overall, Iran and Israel have not been launching any new attacks — that’s the good news. When it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the risk of an impact to oil production and global oil markets has diminished.”

He points out as of Friday morning, there were at least three stations in Richmond posting gas at $1.77/L, jumping ahead the rest of the region.