Lower Mainland motorists were dealt seven-cent-a-litre shock in gasoline prices Friday as the market absorbed a double whammy of higher oil prices and a regional refinery shutdown.
Gasoline prices jumped overnight in the Lower Mainland to $1.40 a litre, and even higher at some stations.
International tension with Iran is causing supply concerns, and a fire last week that shut down BP PLC's Cherry Point refinery in Washington state has raised wholesale prices in the region, said Jason Parent, senior associate at The Kent Group, which tracks gasoline prices in Canada.
In the Lower Mainland, prices reached as high as $1.445 a litre at about 10 a.m. on Friday at a Richmond gas station at 22940 Westminster Hwy., according to price monitoring website Gasbuddy.com. Rates higher than $1.41 per litre were reported throughout the Lower Mainland.
The lowest reported price on Wednesday morning was $1.259 at a gas station in Aldergrove at 26391 Fraser Hwy.
Data supplied by the Kent Group shows the average price in Vancouver on Feb. 14 was $1.283, jumping to $1.347 on Feb. 21. The new prices Friday represented a 10-per-cent jump in just 10 days.
Vancouver has been hit harder than other areas of Canada because of the refinery fire, Parent said. A scan on Gasbuddy.com found the Vancouver average to be $1.40, while the national average was $1.27. The highest reported price in Toronto was $1.329, in Calgary it was $1.169 and in Montreal it was $1.419.
Gasoline prices typically tend to climb in the spring with a peak in the summer as demand increases.
Parent said he has heard some experts predict a 20-to 30-cent jump to $1.60 a litre in gasoline prices this spring, but he thinks the seasonal rise will be more like eight or 10 cents per litre.
The all-time high average gasoline price was $1.485 per litre, which Vancouver drivers saw in July 2008.
"We may get there this year," Parent said, but added that he thinks prices will come back down in Vancouver once the Washington state refinery has reopened.
Parent said he did not have any firm information on when the refinery would reopen, but that he expects it to be at least partly reopened soon, and he had heard that the damage was not in the parts of the plant that produce automobile gasoline.
A call to BP to ask when the plant would reopen was not returned.
The refinery fire has driven up wholesale prices in Washington, which is affecting wholesale prices in the Lower Mainland.
"The wholesale price in the region has to stay within range of others in the region - because the product can flow back and forth between Washington and B.C.," Parent said.
"Crude prices have increased quite a bit over the last couple of weeks in response to what's going on in Iran and the European Union, about $6 or $7 a barrel," Parent said.
Fears that Iran is pushing ahead with nuclear bomb plans have sparked worries about a new war in the Middle East. European buyers of Iranian oil have cut back on purchases ahead of a European Union embargo effective July 1.
Brent oil rose above $125 a barrel to end near a 10-month high on Friday, while U.S. crude futures rallied. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for April delivery settled at $109.77 a barrel, gaining $1.94, or 1.8 per cent, the highest settlement since May 3, when prices ended at $111.05.
Drivers in Metro Vancouver pay 39.1 cents in tax on every litre, plus the five-per-cent goods and services tax on top of those taxes, the Kent Group data shows. The sevenpercent provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax does not apply to gasoline. Included in the 39.1 cents a litre is the carbon tax, which is 5.56 cents a litre now, and is scheduled to go up to 6.56 cents a litre on July 1. Also included is the TransLink tax of 17 cents a litre, and provincial motor fuel taxes and federal taxes.
METRO GAS PRICES
MOST EXPENSIVE GASOLINE REPORTED FRIDAY AFTERNOON
$1.445, Shell, 22940 Westminster Hwy., Richmond
$1.439, Chevron, 2605 E. 49th Ave., Vancouver
$1.419, Superstore, 4651 No. 3 Rd., Richmond
1.419, Chevron, 4487 Canada Way, Burnaby
$1.419, Shell, 12791 72nd Ave., Surrey
CHEAPEST GASOLINE REPORTED FRIDAY AFTERNOON
$1.304, Costco, 2370 O ttawa St., Port Coquitlam
$1.304, Petro-Canada, 12814 232nd St., Maple Ridge
$1.314, Chevron, 2706 St Johns St., Port Moody
$1.314, Shell, 2405 St. Johns St., Port Moody
$1.314, Chevron, 1695 Como Lake Ave., Coquitlam
HIGHEST REPORTED PRICES ACROSS CANADA
Vancouver $1.445
Toronto $1.329
Calgary $1.169
Winnipeg $1.179
Montreal $1.419
Halifax $1.36
Source: vancouvergasprices.com
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