Gas prices in Prince George are looking more like a jigsaw puzzle these days.
A 13-cent increase took place over the weekend with most stations now 140.9 cents a litre while Costco remains the best place to fuel up at 123.9.
Senior Petroleum Analyst with Gasbuddy.com, Dan McTeague explains the reasoning behind the price hike.
“The Whiting BP plant has closed down for what is delayed maintenance they put off in the summer and now this is now the shift over into the fall maintenance and that has put a crimp into the supply.”
“I think it’s going to last for two to three weeks, it’s already been the case for about a week now (the shutdown) so it could be another two weeks before we start to see things improve.”
A lot of the local stations in Prince George were unable to sustain the low-ball prices the public was seeing the past couple of weeks.
“On a day like today, it’s costing gas stations a buck twenty-six to buy their gasoline and they were selling it for that or even cheaper and I know that Costco is selling gas below cost by three cents a litre, I wonder how they are making that up while other stations had to throw in the towel.”
However, McTeague is concerned an oil shortage could be on the horizon due to some political squabbling between American President Donald Trump and Iran.
“There is concern that there will be a shortage in oil caused by US sanctions on Iran limiting a million barrels if not more of Iranian oil beginning to take effect on October the 4th. This weekend, OPEC nations met in Alergia further to Trump’s tweet about insisting that they produce more oil but they may not be able to.”
Gas prices in Vanderhoof are at 135.9 cents a litre while its a little more expensive in Smithers 141.9.