Prices at the pump in Grande Prairie are expected to continue to slowly climb, with one expert suggesting a pair of elements could be vital in determining just how high they will go. With the cost of a litre of fuel currently sitting around $1.069, GasBuddy.com’s Patrick De Haan says present-day prices are settling a little closer to where they were prior to COVID-19.
“Gas prices bottomed out last April because that’s about the peak time when Canadians were staying home and the economy locked down,” he says. “We’ve learned to live in this pandemic, and that’s emboldened Canadians to get out there.”
De Haan suggests that the pre-pandemic oil price crash, which saw the price of a barrel drop down as low as $30 U.S. in early March 2020 has also been a major contributing factor in the initial slide. The drop in price came after Saudi Arabia and Russia cut production of crude, which, in turn, kicked off a fire sale in crude oil stock.
De Haan adds the future of the price of oil comes down to the same two countries coming together and essentially reversing the 2020 decision.
“We are also reliant on those OPEC oil producers to increase production globally to keep the price of oil in check, which we something we will have to see if they carry out.”
According to GasBuddy.com, the average price in Alberta on February 1, 2021, was 100.84 cents per litre, with the five year low coming in 2016 at an average price of 69.40 cents per litre.
