Metro Van gas prices drop, expected to keep sliding

Last Updated May 2, 2024 7:55 am.

Anyone driving around the Lower Mainland Thursday morning welcomed a drop in the price of gas. Some stations posted $2.08/L for regular.

"The wholesale prices have really been falling … about 13 cents since Saturday, and I think they've been a bit slow to pass that on to the consumer," explained En-Pro International Chief Petroleum Analyst Roger McKnight.

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The wholesale price is essentially the cost at which gas stations purchase fuel from refineries.

McKnight says the drop seen Thursday is expected to continue over the next couple of days.

"In the short-term, it looks like prices may even fall another four cents. Again, wholesale prices are falling, the price of crude is starting to fall, so everything is falling into place," he told CityNews.

More of a drop?

Drivers in the region were hit with a nearly 20-cent spike a couple of weeks ago, which was blamed on the switch from the winter blend of gas to the more expensive summer blend. But McKnight isn't buying that.

"We had an 18-cent-a-litre jump on April 18 and that was the reason given, but I fail to see that ever happen on the Prairies, so it's a bit of a mystery to me. So, it looks like we're getting over the hump just in time for the so-called driving season. If only we can get the U.S. refineries to kick into gear — they seem a bit slow to get going."

McKnight is delivering even better news, adding drivers in the Lower Mainland should be paying below the $2/L mark very soon.

"I would say by the end of May."

In the long-term, he says drivers won't be faced with the record-high numbers we saw last summer.

"When you get further and further into the year, the probability of a U.S. election in November is going to keep prices low [through] late fall and into early winter."