Gas prices tumble across Canada
Gas prices across the country fell Thursday by between three and 12 cents a litre, following a week that saw a significant hike in gas prices as Hurricane Ike loomed over the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The gas price in New Brunswick dipped sharply overnight, selling on Thursday morning at $1.25 a litre, down 14 cents from Wednesday.
The province's fuel regulatory body, the Energy and Utilities Board, triggered the decrease, a week after it hiked prices by 13 cents a litre.
Newfoundland and Labrador regulators, meanwhile, dropped the price 12 cents Thursday, days after approving an 11-cent increase in the retail price of gasoline that resulted in a record-high price of $1.50 a litre.
On the Avalon Peninsula, where gas prices are the lowest, the maximum price fell to $1.37 a litre.
The highest price could be found in Labrador South, where regular unleaded self-serve gasoline was $1.53 per litre on Thursday.
Gasoline prices in Prince Edward Island are dropping 10 cents a litre, said the province's regulatory body Wednesday.
In a release, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission said the lack of long-term damage to refining capacity in Texas has resulted in "significant deflation of wholesale market prices over the past 24 hours."
Prices dropping nationwideThe four Atlantic provinces have their gas prices regulated by the provincial bodies in an effort to achieve price stability. The Nova Scotia body, however, has not yet indicated whether it would reduce prices.
Quebec also reviews gas retail pricing every three years.
In Toronto, many gas stations on Thursday cut their prices to as low as $1.19, six cents below Wednesday's average of 126.3 cents, according to Gasbuddy.com, a gas pricing website.
In British Columbia, some stations were selling gas at $1.30 a litre on Thursday, well below Wednesday's average of $1.42 a litre, while average prices in Calgary dropped by three cents to $1.25 a litre, said Gasbuddy.com.
Last week, prices across Canada spiked by as much as 13 cents per litre in anticipation of gasoline supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Ike as it loomed over the Texas coast, home to about 20 per cent of U.S. refining capacity.
Over the last week, Canadians were paying an average of $1.37 a litre, a two-month high, said the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
But prices have relaxed this week as Hurricane Ike caused less damage to the refineries than had been feared.
Even as gas prices dropped in Canada, oil rose in trading in Europe by midday Thursday local time. Light sweet crude was up $2.18 to $99.34 US a barrel.
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