Fuel at the Petro Canada at Terminal Park is slowly creeping towards $2.00 per litre. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

$2/L COMING

Russia invasion of Ukraine & summer season driving fuel prices to record highs in Nanaimo

Mar 3, 2022 | 12:17 PM

NANAIMO — If you can drive it, fill it before a sharp jump at the pump gets worse.

Nanaimo commuters had a scare on Thursday, March 3 with some gas prices in the city sitting at the 189.9 cents per litre mark. It mirrors similar increases seen in Victoria a day prior.

Head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.com Patrick De Haan said it’s one of the largest single-day gas price increases in recent memory and it’s not likely to come down anytime soon.

“We could see gas prices continue to go up another 15 to 30 cents a litre between now and the start of the summer driving season [in] June. How long until we get there will depend on the global response to the rising prices.”

With the pandemic, the current high price of oil and the transition to the summer driving season already having an impact on the price of fuel, Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine is a major factor in the latest dramatic increase.

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De Haan said fuel prices increased all across the country.

“That’s pretty astonishing…prices now about six and a half cents a litre higher (on average) than just a week ago. Oil prices are now at about $111 per barrel so, unfortunately, continued pain across Canada.”

The increase in Nanaimo represented a near 20 cent per litre jump compared to earlier in the week.

He said we’ve seen extreme fuel price increases during extraordinary times in the past, such as hurricanes or other natural disasters, but we are currently in an unprecedented situation where a major oil-producing country like Russia is facing serious sanctions due to their invasion of Ukraine.

De Haan added even if Russia were to withdraw from Ukraine immediately, the global community wouldn’t remove any sanctions for days or even weeks.

Countries like the US and Canada could use some of their strategic oil reserves to help bring prices down, which De Haan said might be the only real tool Western countries have to fight the high price at this time.

Another factor in the overnight jump is a yearly transition to cleaner but more expensive summer fuel.

Canada follows the United States in using summer fuel, which is required during the warmest months to help eliminate some of the ozone damage and emissions brought on by winter gas which contains more butane, which is more volatile and emits more air pollution.

Mid-grade and premium fuel at the Petro Canada at Terminal Park is already over the $2.00 per litre point. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Meanwhile, gas station owners are caught in the middle.

De Haan said they probably despise rising gas prices more than motorists, as they are unable to raise their prices in sync with the increase in the price of fuel or to stay competitive in the local market.

“We are in a very unique situation that some of the biggest increases are being passed along very quickly because few stations have any sort of off-set to lose this amount of money because their price continues to escalate significantly, and that’s part of the reason why this is such a dramatic and quick-paced increase.”

He said the daily market trends directly impact gas station owners the same day. Stations will also keep their price high even if the price of oil decreases, in order to break even on the fuel they purchased at a higher price.

As of Thursday morning, monitoring website GasBuddy.com reported a litre of unleaded gasoline costing 194.9 cents in Victoria, 188.9 cents in the Comox Valley and between 181.9 and 184.9 in Vancouver, Duncan and Oceanside.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow