Oil prices, refinery issues pushing Alberta gas prices up

An expert says oil prices and refinery issues in various parts of the United States are causing Alberta’s average fuel prices to rise.

As of Friday morning, GasBuddy recorded Calgary’s average price for a litre of regular at just over $1.72 per litre. Edmonton’s average was just under $1.69.

In Calgary, that’s an increase of about 14 cents compared to a week ago, when average prices were just over $1.58 per litre. A similar increase was seen in Edmonton, where average prices were recorded at just under $1.56 per litre.

A month ago, Calgary prices were recorded at just under $1.41 per litre, while Edmonton’s were around $1.34.

Patrick De Haan, lead petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, told CityNews prices are being driven up by increases to the price of oil and several issues at refineries.

“In addition to oil production being cut by OPEC — which has been anticipated now for the last week — which has pushed oil prices up, we have also seen refinery issues throughout much of the U.S.,” De Haan said.

“The west coast in the U.S. is seeing about six refinery outages, some of them unexpected, which has pulled prices up in western Canada. In addition, gas prices are going up in areas of the Great Lakes and in the Prairies in Canada, due to two refinery fires that have happened in the U.S. Midwest.”

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De Haan says prices could go even higher in the next month or so in some parts of eastern Canada, but for areas like Alberta that have already seen high prices due to refinery problems, fuel costs should go down a bit.

He says as reduced oil production potentially pushes prices nationally a bit higher, as refinery issues improve, the cost should fall accordingly in Alberta next week, softening the blow for motorists at the pumps.

“The improvement in the refinery situation has been so dramatic that it will offset the impact from OPEC’s decision,” De Haan explained.

He adds the largest refinery in the U.S. Midwest will be restarting in the next few weeks, which could be a good sign that prices will come down.