The price of gas

Bill Ivens doesn’t know if he should be filling his tank quickly before gas prices rise, as some reports indicate, or wait until gas prices fall, as other reports are stating.

"Last week, I heard that the price of oil was supposed to soon go as low as $20 a barrel, which means that gas prices should go down a lot as well," he said as he was buying gas at a Nanaimo service station Thursday afternoon.

"But I just heard another news story that was saying that gas prices will soon spike upwards. It’s hard to know exactly what’s happening with gas prices these days."

in most Nanaimo stations was at $1.17.9 per litre as of Thursday.

That’s well below the cost of gas in the city in June 2014, when it was selling for up to $1.45.9 per litre, but much higher that it was in January, 2015, when it was selling in the mid 90 cent range in most local stations.

The Goldman Sachs Group, a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm, reported last week that the global surplus of oil is even bigger than thought, and that could drive prices as low as $20 a barrel, which is less than half of the $47 per barrel that it is selling for today.

While crude oil and refined gasoline are considered separate commodities, oil is a component of gasoline so fluctuations in its cost impact the price of gas as well. refineries, but a major production problem at a Husky refinery in Toledo, Ohio, is the root cause.

But McTeague said he believes motorists in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island won’t feel the brunt of the increase because gas for this region comes from refineries in the Pacific Northwest.

Jason Parent, vice president of MJ Ervin Associates which monitors gas prices, said it’s more likely that the price of gas in Nanaimo and in most communities on Vancouver Island will drop by at least a few cents per litre in the coming weeks as the busy summer driving season ends.

"Under normal circumstances, the price of gas would be expected to continue to fall off during <a href="http://www.cheapjerseys11.com/">http://www.cheapjerseys11.com/</a> the fall season, but there are so many factors coming into play that it’s really hard to predict," Parent said.

The cheapest gas currently on Vancouver Island is found in Courtenay, where it’s selling for as low as $1.00.9 per litre.

On the other end of the spectrum is Port Hardy and Port McNeil in the north end of the Island, where it’s selling for as much as $1.18.9 per litre.

Gas pricing depends on numerous factors, including accessibility to supplies and local market conditions, so they can vary widely between communities. In the end, it’s what dealers are comfortable with that determines what you pay for a litre of gas.

Michael Ervin, president of Calgary’s MJ Ervin Associates, said it typically takes just one dealer in a community to raise or lower their prices to meet local profit margins and other dealers will often follow suit.

"These operations need to stay in business and remain competitive, so a lot depends on local economies in determining each communities’ gas prices at any given time," he said in a previous interview.

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