The price of a liter of regular gasoline has risen by 15 cents in recent hours in the Capitale-Nationale, from $1.749 to $1.899.
• Read also: Inflation jumped 6.7% in Canada, a record since 1991
According to CAA-Quebec, this increase could be explained, in part, by the switch from winter gasoline to summer gasoline at the oil companies.
Each year, this change in the preparation recipe would impact pump prices by a few cents.
“They have to shut down the refineries, maintain the machines and change the components of the gasoline,” says spokesperson Andrée-Ann Déry.
She says Russia’s assault on Ukraine also continues to impact oil markets. Vladimir Putin’s country is the world’s third largest oil producer.
“Oil indicators will continue to fluctuate due to the geopolitical tensions we are currently experiencing,” warns Ms. Déry.
Despite this significant increase of 15 cents per litre, CAA-Quebec estimates that the new rate is still below the realistic price in the region ($1,914), which includes the acquisition cost of $1,812 and the average retail margin of the last year of 10.2 cents.
In recent days, due to acquisition costs, Ms. Déry says the margins taken by retailers have been “fairly tight”.
“Today is an upward adjustment in the price at the pump. At $1.899, that gives a retail margin of 7.6 cents. This is slightly above the province’s average margin of 5.6 cents. Tuesday was 4.9 cents. We have known worse in the past,” said the spokesperson.
No tax reduction
In recent weeks, remember that Quebec has closed the door to the idea of reducing, as in Alberta and Ontario, its gas tax in order to reduce the pressure on the wallet of motorists.
Several pump price records have been recorded in recent months across the country, particularly in Montreal and Quebec.
The Legault government is of the opinion that a reduction in the tax would go against its environmental targets and would benefit oil companies rather than consumers, since they would increase their profit margin.
Since April 1, the suspension of the provincial gas tax in Alberta has saved motorists about 11 cents per litre. On the Ontario side, the rebate should be 5.7 cents per liter as of July.
In March, Ottawa asked the Competition Bureau to set up teams to monitor the market and prevent “collusion and unfair practices” with gasoline prices.
The soaring price at the pump could still continue in the coming weeks.
In a recent interview with the CP24 network, the president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, Dan McTeague, predicted a price of $2 per liter in certain Canadian regions starting in June.
– With QMI Agency
More details to come…