Summer blend not to blame for gas price hike in Fort St. John, Dan McTeague says

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Gas prices rose in Fort St. John this week, and Canadians for Affordable Energy President Dan McTeague says it’s not because of stations switching to a summer blend.

According to McTeague, stations already switched to their summer blend on March 15th in Western Canada.

“You have to look at what’s called the Edmonton terminal rack price,” McTeague says. “I realize Edmonton’s quite a distance away, five or six hours, but that’s where the price comes from, and they changed on March 15th to the lower spec.”

He says right now, it costs gas stations in Fort St. John and the surrounding area roughly $1.50 per litre to get gas.

“It’s costing $1.48, $1.49 [Friday, April 19th], using Edmonton’s racks – that’s basically the inside industry name for the wholesale price, delivered,” McTeague explains.

He says anything on top of that is profit for gas stations. 

Currently, regular gas in Fort St. John costs anywhere between $1.75 and $1.78 per litre, according to GasBuddy. 

That’s an increase of six to nine cents per litre compared to March 20th. 

McTeague sees no reason for the increase besides profit. GasBuddy’s Head of Petroleum Analysis, Patrick DeHaan, says the spike is being caused by “very tight west coast supply and refinery maintenance.”

In Statistics Canada’s March Consumer Price Index, the agency cited higher gas prices as a cause for rising inflation, also noting that prices were rising faster in Western Canada than in Eastern Canada. 

Normally, gas prices peak for the year during the May long weekend.

In the winter, gas stations include more of a substance called butane in their fuel. Butane is an inexpensive gas that helps cars start during the cold winter months.

Meanwhile, during warmer seasons, stations change their fuel blends to contain more of a substance called alkalytes, which make the gas less volatile.

According to McTeague, gas stations in Eastern Canada only started to use summer blends on April 16th.