Gas prices to stabilize for now, go up in April: McTeague

Drivers who’ve visited the gas pumps over the past few days may have noticed some downs and ups, but prices should be stabilizing for the rest of the year and into April next year.

That’s according to Dan McTeague at gaspricewizard.com, who was speaking Tuesday on The Greg Morgan Morning Show.

As of noon Tuesday, most prices in Regina were back up above 99 cents per litre, with some prices hitting 114.9 cents per litre.

McTeague said any variance between stations can be chalked up to “gas station shenanigans.”

That means stations that lower their prices are just trying to get a few extra cents per litre from their suppliers by selling more volume, he explained. And stations that keep prices a few cents above $1 per litre are giving themselves a small profit margin to account for employees’ wages, credit card usage fees and municipal taxes.

Price variance shouldn’t be attributed to Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacking Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil production site last week, he added.

“That was a blip that lasted for all of a day or two, and then it simply petered out, because of course Saudi Arabia turned around and said, ‘Nothing to see here folks, everything’s fine,’ ” McTeague said. “Of course we know it isn’t; that shoe will drop at sometime down the road.”

McTeague doesn’t expect to see much movement in Canada’s gas prices for the next seven to nine months.

Starting sometime between April and October 2020, prices will starting moving up, he said.

“At that point, the federal government will have imposed … its Clean Fuel Standards Act,” which aims to make Canadian gasoline the cleanest in the world, McTeague said.

He didn’t acknowledge there’s currently a federal election campaign happening, and the new governing party may change or cancel that legislation.

“Most gas stations are aware of this, refiners are aware of this. And they may just pack up and say, ‘You want your clean gasoline, go buy it from somewhere else on the international market,’ ” he said, predicting possible “tough times ahead.”