If you think you’re paying a lot at the pump now, just wait — it’s about to get worse.
Gas prices have been hovering around $1.50 per litre since the end of February, and an industry expert doesn’t think relief is anywhere in sight with the summer months approaching.
“$1.60 is really a no-brainer. It’s likely to happen sometime between roughly April 15 and Sept. 15, said Dan McTeague with GasBuddy.com. “At which point we go back to winter blends of gasoline, which is cheaper for refineries to make.”
GasBuddy’s recorded high for a fill-up was set back on June 22, 2014.
WATCH: Petroleum analyst Dan McTeague explains why Vancouver’s gas prices are approaching record levels.
“We clocked it at the highest ever seen when oil was at $100-some-odd per barrel. We clocked out at $1.557 and that’s likely to be broken very quickly over the next week,” McTeague said.
According to the website, on Sunday afternoon the average price of regular gas in Vancouver was $1.527 cents per litre.
The petroleum analyst predicted averages between $1.46 and $1.52 at the start of the year.
On top of it all, the carbon tax is going to be pushed to $35 a tonne in April and more expensive summer blends of gasoline will come in shortly after.
McTeague says these will bump prices by five cents per litre.
And the crushing blow could be the maintenance work on Olympic Pipeline between Portland, Ore. and Blaine, Wash.
“That causes a bit of a bump in prices — good enough for a three cent per litre increase, which of course we’re paying now. For stations that aren’t charging that $1.549 Sunday, they will, in fact, follow by Monday morning. So if you can still see it for under $1.50, don’t hesitate,” he said.
According to the website, prices have jumped 22 cents per litre compared to this time last year.
McTeague calculates that as the average driver spending an extra $600 – $700 annually to fill up.
— With files from Michelle Morton and Richard Zussman
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