Need gas before the long weekend? Fill up now, says analyst

It costs about $1.50 for stations to buy the gas before a retail mark-up so some stations are probably making up for the shortfall through other products, like premium gas or diesel or store merchandise, said McTeague, who is also the president of advocacy group Canadians for Affordable Energy.

Gas Wizard has pegged the price of regular gas at close to $1.61 per litre in Vancouver on Tuesday based on the price of gasoline, taxes and an estimated retail margin of about eight cents a litre.

And that’s where he thinks prices will be for the next couple weeks, “up or down a couple pennies,” although some gas stations might be cutting into their margins in order to draw in customers and compete on volume.

“Things are getting back to normal” said McTeague, referring to a large spike in recent weeks as some U.S. refineries underwent maintenance, cutting supply and causing prices to climb.

The price hike occurred in the days before B.C. and Canada eliminated the consumer carbon tax on April 1, which meant the expected 17-cent-a-litre tax relief was effectively cancelled out by the increase, leaving many motorists fuming at the pump.