Gas prices in Kamloops and across BC could be increasing as early as today.
Senior Petroleum Analyst with EnPro Roger McKnight says you can blame numerous factors for this latest price increase, including the price of crude oil and refinery issues in the United States.
“We’re calling for the eastern part of the country, a 2 cent per litre increase, and I can’t see much of a difference in the Western provinces either,” he said. “It’s not a very happy situation.”
“The Lower Mainland is being whacked with about 52 cents of tax in that price, so that’s not very good.”
McKnight adds of the 10 refineries in California that supply the BC market, six are undergoing unplanned maintenance which is impacting prices.
“Which means something’s gone wrong. So that’s hiccuping all the way back up into the Vancouver market and Northern BC,” McKnight added. “You only have one refinery in BC, in Burnaby at 54,000 barrels a day.”
“Unless that can get cranked up or situations get cleared up in the US, especially in the Washington hub, prices are going to go up.”
The average price in B.C. is around $1.50 per litre this morning, with many Kamloops stations around the $1.34 per litre mark.
Get ready for a wild ride @ the ⛽️⛽️ 🇨🇦- With a US oil embargo set to take effect on all Iranian oil next week, OPEC/Russia cutbacks and output problems in Libya and Venezuela, gasoline and diesel prices are set to climb dramatically as early as Wednesday….
— Dan McTeague (@GasBuddyDan) April 22, 2019
