Gas prices in Grande Prairie to go down, not up: analyst

A couple of gas stations in Grande Prairie have hiked their regular gas price to $1.069, more than 15 cents more than others nearby. Senior petroleum analyst for gasbuddy.com Dan McTeague doesn’t think it’s a sign of what’s to come.
 
“Only because it costs gas stations about 90, 91 cents a litre to buy the fuel to begin with. In that range, $1.069, that’s a 14, 15 cents retail margin; that’s pretty steep. Generally, it’s not likely to be sustained since they won’t get the business.
 
McTeague says the sweet spot right now in Grande Prairie is around 98 cents a litre, and the stations sitting around 90 are trying to compete with Costco and using fuel as a loss leader. He expects that to fall as the summer demand wanes and refineries switch to producing winter-grade fuel on September 15th.
 
“As, well, good weather has meant crops are coming off the fields and that’s meant that diesel use is likely not to increase in September and October as it traditionally does, which means there’s really no where for gasoline prices and other petroleum products to go but down.”
 
While cheaper gas is good for consumers, McTeague notes it’s important for all of Canada that oil prices overall increase.