PumpTalk - Petro-Canada

Winter’s coming. So is WinterGas™

In the next few weeks, most parts of Canada will start to see the return of WinterGas™ to our retail sites. In fact, someone asked about this not to long ago in a comment to one of Jon’s posts. So, I thought I’d provide a bit of an update for everyone.

Update: Western Canada Diesel Supply Situation

Recent media reports have discussed the shortage of diesel for large commercial customers within western Canada.  As this industry-wide situation is affecting our customers, I’d like to help explain what’s going on and what we’re doing about it.

Is the drop in crude prices being reflected at the pumps?

First of all, the answer is yes.  Gas prices have been dropping across the country the last few weeks as crude oil prices have dropped, but not as much as most people would like based on the calls I’m getting.   Commodities, like crude oil, are priced in US dollars.  Therefore when the Canadian dollar drops, so too does our purchasing power.   Just like it does when you head to the US outlet malls across the border.   Let me explain.

In the News

Refinery outages cause W. Canada diesel shortage

Reuters does a good job summarizing the situation in Western Canada with respect to diesel supplies.  "Planned and unplanned refinery outages have combined to create a shortage of diesel fuel in Western Canada, leaving some truck stops with no supplies, industry officials said."    They also updated the situation at one of the major refiners experiencing difficulties late yesterday.  Gives a good overview of the current situation.

Learning Under Fire

Fire and fuel are a bad mix...Unless it's a controlled training exercise.   The Oakville Beaver dropped by during a training exercise we were conducting with local firefighters.  An interesting story.  Even cooler pictures. “This is the confidence builder,” said Oakville Fire Chief Richard Boyes, as he watched his recruits extinguish yet another gargantuan fire. “If they know they can handle this the real life events are not a big deal.”

Fuel Efficiency doesn’t have to be difficult

I haven’t blogged on fuel efficiency lately, what with the August gasoline shortage (again – thanks everyone for your patience) and the September price fluctuations. But we’ve not forgotten about the topic. In fact, over the last couple of months, I’ve seen a number of easy-to-follow tips. I’ll share them here, adding to the miscellaneous tidbits I assembled in a post last spring.