The price of a litre of gas across Grande Prairie may continue to rise, as one expert says a combination of factors has seen the price at the pump skyrocket over the last four months.
According to Gasbuddy.com’s Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan, fuel in Grande Prairie and the majority of Alberta has gone up around six cents a litre in the last week alone.
De Haan says this increase is likely going to continue to spike as parts of the world continue to slowly vaccinate citizens from the COVID-19 virus, and with it, the loosening of public gathering restrictions in some areas.
“Demand has accelerated since vaccinations started to take hold, and that has continued over the last four months. That’s why we are paying now almost double what we were paying a year ago,” he adds.
Grande Praire gas prices on April 26th range anywhere from $1.19 and $1.26. De Haan adds this time last year, the average price was just over $0.68 a litre. He adds it’s not likely going to stabilize any time soon.
“Unfortunately, as things do continue to improve, I would expect demand for gasoline would continue to go up, and what we are facing here today could go higher by the start of the summer driving season,” he adds.
De Haan adds that the pre-pandemic oil price crash, which saw the price of a barrel drop down as low as 30 USD in early March 2020 has also greatly subsided. With oil currently trading at just under $60 US per barrel, he suggests that the higher price is also playing a factor for those at the pump.
“They did raise production 350,000 barrels a day for May, but by a large OPEC has had a pretty tight balance on the market, and that’s why oil prices are much higher than they were early on the pandemic.”
