It could be a little cheaper to fill up your gas tank on Friday in Metro Vancouver because prices at the pump are expected to drop.
“It’s going to be a rather pleasant, and perhaps for some a dramatic decrease in prices,” said Dan McTeague, the senior petroleum analyst for gasbuddy.com.
“All your prices are relevant to what’s happening in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and what’s happening down in California. They’ve had a string of refineries that have been knocked out by unplanned maintenance issues.”
He said the result has been higher demand and lower production and that is what drove the prices up.
On Wednesday, McTeague said several large ships carrying gasoline arrived in Los Angeles, providing relief for the refineries on the U.S. west coast.
“All the prices dropped about 20 cents a gallon,” said McTeague. “That, converted into Canadian dollars, means four cents a litre drop overnight Thursday into Friday.”
However, the decrease will only apply to Friday, according to McTeague. On Saturday, there will be at least a one cent increase in gas prices back to around $132.9.
Areas outside Metro Vancouver will also see about a four cents drop in price on Friday.
“I’m looking right now at the market for the Pacific Northwest, up $3.40 a gallon,” said McTeague. “The Canadian dollar dropped 1.3 cents against the greenback. That’s important to know because we price all of our fuel in U.S. terms. That’s good for at least a one cent increase. You can actually see these things and predict them; I’ve been doing it for 10 years now.”
He said whatever happens in the Pacific Northwest market affects the Vancouver market as well.
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