Alberta gas prices at standstill, while other major Canadian cities see price drop

After weeks of a paying a premium for gasoline, drivers in some Canadian cities saw relief at the pumps.

Heading into the weekend Vancouver experienced one of the biggest single drops in gas prices in Canadian history dropping 35 cents, making prices in many areas $1.93 per litre.

“Due to the refineries starting to come back online on the west coast we’re seeing that capacity return to the market and it’s allowing prices to start to fall,” Paul Pasco, principal consultant at Kalibrate said.

According to Gaswizard.ca, as of Sunday, prices in Toronto dipped to $163.9 per litre — a price lower than what many Albertans are paying in Calgary and Edmonton.

While drivers in Vancouver and Toronto are seeing a drop in their prices, Alberta has been at a standstill at around $1.69 per litre.

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“Where you see the price of oil drop — and ultimately that should show up in pumps here sometime next week — so if you can afford to wait a few more days it probably makes sense,” said Jeremy McCrea, energy analyst with Raymond James.

McCrea said there are several factors as to why prices have not budged in Alberta.

“We got a lot of volatility going on in the market here — everything from refineries going down in select regions, you have some of the gas tax coming back and a lot of comments out of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) here that’s made oil prices really jump here in the last couple weeks,” McCrea said

He said, with such volatility in the market, price changes can be unpredictable.

“Some days its going to be up 20 cents and then down 20 cents. A lot of it is what we’re hearing from OPEC — a lot of concerns on recession and this is playing a yoyo with WTI (crude oil) prices,” McCrea said.

A yoyo effect that isn’t swinging in Alberta’s favour for now.