Gas prices decline as Hurricane Harvey relief continues

After feeling pain at the pumps since Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, some relief has finally arrived with a drop in gasoline prices.

Prices dropped by five cents overnight, with most stations charging $1.149 a litre for regular gas Wednesday morning.

Senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com, Dan McTeague, says the drop has to do with the change in seasons.

“It’s the shift over from summer-blended gasoline to winter-blended gasoline. It’s much cheaper for refineries to produce and to sell winter spec gasoline because it doesn’t have all the expensive components to prevent it from becoming volatile during the colder season,” said McTeague.

He adds the decline is also in part thanks to U.S. refineries starting to bounce back after Hurricane Harvey.

“This is not something that will probably resolve itself in the month of September. It may be a lot closer to October until we see full restoration as U.S. refineries get back on their feet producing gasoline,” said McTeague.

McTeague says our current gas prices are about 11 cents a litre cheaper than last week, but still about 20 cents more expensive than what we were paying last year at this time.