The average price of gas in Metro Vancouver is the highest in North America between 149.6 cents a litre and 152 cents a litre, according to a senior petroleum analyst — but relief is on the way for drivers’ wallets.
Gasbuddy.com’s Dan McTeague says demand is down with the closing of summer driving season and retailers are shifting to the winter blend of gas on September 15th.
“You want to make sure that you have fairly decent ignition, despite the cold weather,” McTeague said, “so as is, our put in the composition is changed and it does mean that fortunately for us we start to see lower prices with winter spec gasoline than we do for the summer. The usual average is about three to four cents a litre right across Canada.”
He says we may see some retailers dropping prices in the meantime so they’re not stuck with summer inventory heading into next weekend.
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McTeague says prices won’t drop overnight on the 15th, but he’s already beginning to see that price trickle down in the U.S. where they have a different mandate.
“Certainly Washington State may have already begun the process of shifting its, what’s known as RVP — reid vapor pressure — pricing from 7.8 to 9.5, and of course in Canada we go to something called 13.5 for the winter which means it’s a little cheaper to produce and that’s already starting to have an effect.
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“My senses are that in the next two weeks, you will see a net decrease of about three or four cents a litre at the pumps,” McTeague said.
However, we’ll have to watch for the developing hurricanes in the Atlantic, McTeague says, because that’s where gas and oil are shipped. If the storms get bad, prices could potentially go up because of disturbances to operations.
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