What goes up...
November 07, 2008
If you listened to the many long-term gas price predictions made by third-party ‘experts’ throughout the year you may be somewhat surprised by the prices you see at the pump today. At one point it seemed like a bidding war in the press…I hear someone predicting $1.50 a litre by the end of the year? Do I hear $1.60? A Toonie? Sold.
Did anyone step forward early in the year to predict prices would be lower now than they were in 2007 or 2006? If so, I missed it. But that’s where we’re at. Explains why I don’t make predictions. That, and the legal issues of course.
This chart from the Ontario Government gives a good visual of what’s happened to gas prices.
According MJ Ervin data, here is how things looked at the end of last week. And keep in mind that prices have dropped further since then.
- Canadian average retail gasoline price declined for the seventh straight week to 92.7 cents per litre (cpl) which is a 21-month low
Across the country, pump prices continued their 7 week drop. At this rate, they’re dropping faster than the price of a DVD player.
- 21 month lows were hit in Toronto, Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal and Charlottetown
- 20 month lows were hit in Saint John, St. John’s Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton
- Big pump price drops in other cities and towns. The full report is available here or here.
- The Canadian average retail diesel price also dropped for the fourth straight week to an 8 month low.
I’m not going to predict where things are going for the reasons I stated earlier. But a quick look back at the year to date shows that commodity prices can take pump prices for quite a ride…both uphill and downhill.
Chart Source: Ontario Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure
Photo Credit: thekevinchang
Jon
I posted a reply/contribution to this conversation on my blog. There seems to be some problem posting it directly here.
please visit : http://miroslodki.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/what-goes-up-sometimes-take-a-different-path-coming-down/
Miro
Posted by: miro | November 14, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Gas prices in Prince george BC have gone up from 75.9 to 84.9 in the last week while oil price has dropped to 34.00 a barrel now how about this for price gowdging the oil companies can use all the excuses they want they are ripping off their consumers and the government won't do any thing about it, they don't want to loose their taxes when the price of oil drops they cut production ya right they have stock piles. They are lying to the public and they will keep lying to the public as long as the people keep buying gas
Posted by: Karen | January 15, 2009 at 04:06 PM
Thank you so much for comment about Prince George! You are absolutely correct. I hate that we have that awful gas plant here, that is polluting our air, yet we seem to have to pay more for our gas. Why is it that smaller surrounding cities that DO NOT have to put up with the poor air quality as we do, have much lower gas prices? How is this fair? I realize that there are more factors than JUST the price of oil per barrel but, this is getting ridiculous. The price of oil fell significantly and we did notice a difference at the pump. However, it was not NEARLY enough.
Posted by: Sophia | January 26, 2009 at 11:50 PM