VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Gas prices are jumping ahead of this long weekend because of flooding in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey.
The national average gasoline price has risen above $1.16 per litre, jumping eight cents since the storm made landfall last Friday.
Industry insiders say it’s going to jump another five cents tomorrow to about $1.45 per litre.
“This is, in part, due to supply problems in the Pacific Northwest and also, to a lesser extent, because of what’s happening in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and many refineries being offline,” says GasBuddy.com Senior Analyst Dan McTeague.
“I don’t see any relief in sight. The shortage is pretty serious; 31 per cent of all US production is offline. Unfortunately, high prices are going to be here, despite what otherwise would have been a very good September.”
If there wasn’t a shortage, he thinks gas prices would be between $1.30 and $1.35 per litre right now.
Canadian gasoline prices vary substantially by region and city, with Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and most of the Atlantic provinces below the national average. The Lower Mainland pays some of the highest gas taxes in the country.
At least two major pipelines — one that ships gasoline across the southern United States to New York, and another that flows north to Chicago — have been slowed or stopped since hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf region.