Gas prices expected to drop 9 cents in time for the morning commute
· Toronto Sun
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The reprieve at the gas pump will be short-lived, but it is a reprieve, nonetheless.
“We are getting a nine-cent decrease (per litre in the price of gasoline),” gas price analyst and Canadians for Affordable Energy president Dan McTeague told the Toronto Sun. “After midnight on Thursday, gas prices will drop from 187.9 o $178.9.”
But do not wait until the weekend, as McTeague expects gas to increase four or five cents a litre on Saturday across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area.
Originally, McTeague predicted a seven-cent-per-litre decrease in time for the Friday morning commute, but that figure was amended by two cents by mid-morning on Thursday.
“(The oil companies) want to get rid of their summer inventory,” he said. “Next week, they have to switch over to a winter blend, which is a different formulation. So, they are incentivizing people with a couple of extra pennies.”
Expect a complete shift over to winter fuel blends by the end of next week.
Rocketing skyward
“Diesel fuel will be up nine cents a litre for tomorrow,” McTeague said. “And look for another three to four cent increase come Saturday.”
McTeague says diesel could reach $2.50 a litre by the weekend. Diesel sits at approximately $2.36.9 per litre in Toronto on Thursday.
“We have never seen this,” McTeague said. “We are in uncharted waters as far as how high (the price) is going and how high it is going to remain.”
McTeague says the main culprits for the increased diesel prices are the war between Russia and Ukraine and the skirmish between the United States and Iran.
Russia supplies about 15% of the world’s diesel fuel, which equates to approximately four million barrels of production a day. That tap has been turned off. The Persian Gulf region isn’t producing diesel fuel at their usual pace, which is four or five million barrels a day, due to regional conflicts.
Russia is typically the world’s second-largest diesel exporter after the U.S. The Persian Gulf region accounted for about 10% of global diesel trade.