Prowling the Pumps – July 29, 2008
July 29, 2008
On the case, lurking at service stations across the country to find the lowest and highest gasoline prices in Canada.
Average across Canada
| This week: | $1.292 per litre |
| Last week: | $1.287 per litre |
| Last Year: | $1.008 per litre |
The average price of gasoline in Canada rose by 0.5¢ per litre. The end of the slide? Probably not. A technical correction? Maybe. A significant event. Definitely not. The cost of our hypothetical 80-litre gas tank only rose 40¢ over the past week. And even that may be a blip.
Least Expensive Gasoline in Canada (per litre)
| Excluding Taxes | Taxes | Total | |
| Kingston, ON | $0.899 | $0.305 | $1.204 |
| Ottawa, ON | $0.928 | $0.306 | $1.234 |
| St. Catharines, ON | $0.941 | $0.306 | $1.247 |
| Edmonton, AB | $1.002 | $0.250 | $1.252 |
| Windsor, ON | $0.947 | $0.307 | $1.254 |
Again, Ontario places four cities in the low-cost five versus Alberta with one. With the summer driving season now in full swing, Canada’s most populous province benefits from the large quantities of gasoline sold compared to other Canadian markets.
Most Expensive Gasoline in Canada (per litre)
| Excluding Taxes | Taxes | Total | |
| Yellowknife, NT | $1.254 | $0.280 | $1.534 |
| Labrador City, NL | $1.017 | $0.432 | $1.449 |
| Whitehorse, YT | $1.218 | $0.231 | $1.449 |
| Victoria, BC | $1.056 | $0.372 | $1.428 |
| Fort St. John, BC | $1.035 | $0.391 | $1.426 |
For the second week in a row, Quebec has been shut out of the pricey five. Probably no crying there. British Columbia places two cities in the pricey five as it did last week. The B.C. carbon tax of 2.4¢ per litre initiated July 1, 2008 is not the culprit here. Even without the tax, Victoria and Fort St. John would still among the five most expensive Canadian cities in which to buy gasoline.
Tuesday, oil was trading as low as $118.60 US per barrel, closing at $119.17. That’s a $28.67 US per barrel slide since crude trading peaked at $147.27 on July 11. Slowing economies have reduced demand for petroleum products and consumers are opting for less expensive means of travel – public transit, more fuel-efficient personal vehicles and car co-ops. One analyst summed it up by saying that the market was focusing more on supply and demand and less on geopolitical and weather-induced factors. What a concept!
We’ll see what happens next week.
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