Two months after crossing the $2 per liter mark, gasoline has fallen below this threshold in a few places in the greater Montreal area.
Posted at 3:05 p.m.
According to the Régie de l’énergie du Québec, the precious liquid could notably be acquired at 199.7 cents per liter this Thursday in the boroughs of Anjou and Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, and even at 198 .9¢ as seen The Press near boulevard Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine in the borough of Anjou. According to the Essence Montréal website, gas was also available for less than $2 in the metropolitan area at the three Costcos in Brossard, Boucherville and Laval, at two Esso service stations in Brossard and Sainte-Julie, as well as at Ultramar on the Trans-Canada Highway, in the borough of Saint-Laurent.
In the rest of Quebec, the same observation could be made in Gatineau (199.4¢), in the MRC Les Moulins in Lanaudière (199.2¢), in the MRC Argenteuil and Deux-Montagnes (198.7¢) and in the MRC Beauharnois-Salaberry and Roussillon (199.6¢), according to the Régie de l’énergie.
After reaching record highs, at 221.2¢ per liter on average for the week of June 6 in Montreal and Quebec according to the Régie de l’énergie, the price of gasoline has been slowly but steadily falling for over one month in most areas in Quebec. But even slightly below $2 a liter in the greater Montreal area, it remains above what CAA-Quebec considers the “realistic price”, established this Thursday at 195.1¢. This price takes into account the acquisition cost of 186.0¢ as well as the average retail profit margin of the last 52 weeks, established at 9.1¢.
It was on May 6 that motorists in the greater Montreal area were shocked to see a liter of gas exceed $2 for the first time. The war in Ukraine and supply difficulties, in particular, have led to extreme volatility in oil prices.
At the beginning of July, however, fears of a recession drove down the price of black gold. WTI thus fell below the US$100 mark on July 5, for the first time since mid-May. It was trading at $102.730 at the time of this writing.
The price of gasoline futures followed the same curve, which was reflected in prices at the pump. The peak of US$4.0839 per gallon was reached on June 9, according to the Trading Economics website. The drop was practically constant until Thursday, when it traded at US$3.4170 during the day.