"Expect a painful summer", gas expert anticipates $2/L prices this summer

Don't expect gas prices to drop anytime soon. In fact, don't be surprised if we see two dollars per litre all over the province this summer.

Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, says there are many reasons as to why we're seeing the surge in prices, including the Russia/Ukraine situation, refineries struggling to keep up with an insatiable demand for fuel, and a loss of five per cent of North American refining capacity since 2019.

"Some of that's due to COVID shutdowns, fires that have shut down refineries, even Hurricane Ida last year shutting down a refinery," says De Haan. "So, even amidst weaker demand, because of high prices, refineries are still not able to keep up with that demand and that's led inventories of gasoline to fall to their lowest seasonal level in nearly a decade."

He says some areas have seen the lowest seasonal gasoline inventories on record. He calls it a tight market and he does expect the situation to improve any time soon.

Some stations in Winnipeg have already hit two dollars per litre and De Haan says it'll be the norm throughout the entire province sooner than later.

"Looks like a lot of the Shell stations are going up to 207.9 (cents per litre) and with a big jump in wholesale gas prices over the last couple of days, I think it's inevitable," says De Haan. "It's not a matter of if, but when, we're going to see that two dollar sign rolling out across Manitoba."

As of this morning, the average price for gasoline in Manitoba is: 203 cents per litre. Nationally, the average gas price is approximately 208.5 cents per litre.