Gas prices surging in B.C.

• Gas prices broke record at 1.57, 1.58
• Due to global shortages and a spike in crude
• Price won’t go down overnight

The price to fuel up has risen substantially in the Interior and those prices may linger into November.

Gas prices were as high as $1.58 per litre at some outlets leading up to Thanksgiving weekend. It hung around the $1.57 mark for a while before dipping back to around $1.55.

Dan McTeague, the President of Canadians for Affordable Energy, who also runs a national gas price website, told Kelowna 10 prices had already breached record highs.

“We’re going to see them moderate maybe four or five cents a litre, thanks to a lot of the gas stations giving back some of the retail margin. We could see a one or two or three-cent wholesale price decrease, but I think by Remembrance Day it’s going to come back with a vengeance,” McTeague said.

He said there are a few factors behind the surge, such as a shortage of supply, an increase in the price of crude, and the Canadian dollar not responding to the higher prices.

Further, McTeague said colder weather means more energy consumption.

“Cold weather will put a real damper on [diesel and refinery] supplies … when that happens, gasoline prices will inevitably rise as well,” McTeague said.

McTeague pointed out how Canada, and indeed the rest of the world, is currently facing a hike in gasoline prices and highlighted political dynamic around the fossil fuel and climate change debate.

“It’s a global concern, a shortage of supply, in some parts of the world it’s become an energy crisis. The world is producing a lot less oil at the very time in which it needs a lot more,” McTeague said.