Gas prices jump before May long weekend

Yeah they shut down the Petro Can refinery 2 weeks ago for maintenance.

And that shut-down is making the price hike this year even worse than it has been for other long weekends, especially here in Alberta.

I noticed the price hike on Tuesday here in Grande Prairie. Happy Victoria Day from the oil companies, they're our friends.....

Ahhh, I love summer - for me, gas prices actually go down because I drive a diesel Jetta.

I was paying $1.15 - $1.20 all winter long (while gas was as low as $.99), now that summer driving season is back in swing, diesel has already dropped down to $1.10. Nevermind that my Jetta is more fuel efficient than most similar sized cars out there already.

This isn't schenfraude on my part, just relief after getting gouged all winter long (I know how most of us feel).

Why is diesel more expensive than gas anyway?
In The Netherlands, it is cheaper. A LOT.

(However, the road tax for diesel cars is higher. Still, at the end of the day, if you drive a lot, a diesel is cheaper)

The federal tax on diesel is 6 cents per litre less than gasoline; however, each province has its own tax regime with some charging the same tax on both products (e.g. Alberta) and some charging different rates (eg greater Vancouver area 7 cents more for diesel).

On top of that you have the supply demand situation. Relatively the demand for middle distillates (diesel) is higher in winter and lower in summer and gasoline is the opposite. Think of two opposing sine waves with the gas peak in the summer. Now the refinery can only be tuned so far in producing more or less gas from a barrel. So when diesel demand is high there is excess gas for the demand and when the gas demand is high there is excess diesel. So to 'keep the tanks from overflowing' they raise the price on the high demand product and lower it on the low demand product.

Pretty crude explanation, but I hope I managed to get the point across.

Gas is ranging between 1.299 and 1.319 here. I miss being able to put $5 to $10 CDN into my scooter and having that last the week. Now it's about $100 - $150 a week, and that's just for me.

Apparently Diesel is alot more expensive than it used to be because the demand has gone through the roof in China and India. So you can thank all those European car makers who sold their diesels cheap to 3rd world countries for the rise in prices.

We're at $1.39.9 and amazingly of the 23 stations shown on Gasbuddy they're all the same price.

No price fixing in this industry is there?

The price actually dropped here over the last couple of days, down from $1.494 to $1.459....

Outside the GVRD the price is closer to $1.339....

We're at $1.39.9 and amazingly of the 23 stations shown on Gasbuddy they're all the same price.

No price fixing in this industry is there?
Not as long as the people in charge of the investigations need a little extra to buy that new Ferrari.

We're at $1.39.9 and amazingly of the 23 stations shown on Gasbuddy they're all the same price.

No price fixing in this industry is there?
Not as long as the people in charge of the investigations need a little extra to buy that new Ferrari.


I thought left wingers all rode bicycles and hated the oil industry.

What are you doing buy dirty oil products?

Nice, an all partisan right wing stereotype post with no content, good to see your true colours again.

Not as long as the people in charge of the investigations need a little extra to buy that new Ferrari.


I thought left wingers all rode bicycles and hated the oil industry.

What are you doing buy dirty oil products?



It doesn't stop there, sport, not by a long chalk.