Local gas prices continue to rise

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This article was published 02/06/2022 (1194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon-area motorists definitely felt the pinch at the pumps on Wednesday, with gas prices climbing to an average of $1.951 per litre city-wide, according to the Canadian Automobile Association.

This represents a significant jump from the $1.879 per litre prices that were registered on Tuesday, which is itself a massive increase over the $1.259 per litre average locals had to contend with last year.

The cheapest fuel in the city remains at the Waywayseecappo Gas Bar, where regular gas cost $1.839 a litre as of Wednesday afternoon.

While these comparatively low prices drew plenty of customers to the business over lunch, all of the motorists who chatted with the Sun seemed resigned to the idea that this upward trend would continue, since province-wide gas prices have increased by almost 70 cents per litre within the past year.

“I don’t even know what to say about it anymore,” said a local Manitoba Hydro worker, who wished to remain anonymous. “It just keeps going and going and going. When is it going to stop?”

Beyond filling up his full-size truck for day-to-day activities, this hydro worker said that these high gas prices are also bleeding into his professional life, since he travels around 3,400 kilometres every two weeks for work.

“It seems like robbery,” he added.

Even though Curtis Arthurson doesn’t travel nearly as far for work, living near the community of Forrest, he told the Sun that he still drives around the region to run his heating and air conditioning repair business.

And because of rising fuel costs, Arthurson said he’s being forced into a position where he has to charge his customers more to compensate for the money he’s losing on gas.

“I feel guilty because they’re paying enough as it is for everything, so I just try to work it into my prices as best I can,” he said.

Meanwhile, over at the Co-op Gas Bar at 300 18th St. North, where regular fuel cost $1.969 per litre on Wednesday, local resident Eric said that he’s paying around $200 every time he has to fill up his half-ton truck these days.

Because of this, Eric, who declined to provide his last name, said his summer travel plans have been drastically reduced.

“I’m not taking a vacation this year,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere outside of maybe Souris to see the swinging bridge or something like that.”

All three of these motorists also told the Sun they expect gas prices to crack $2 per litre sometime this summer.

“I wouldn’t even be surprised if we saw it at $2.50. It’s just unreal,” Eric said.

Canadians for Affordable Energy president Dan McTeague largely agrees with this assessment, telling the Winnipeg Free Press in May that prices will likely remain high due to demand, even if the cost of oil drops.

“Summer’s always a quirky time of the year,” McTeague said.

In terms of what is driving this steady increase in gas prices, University of Manitoba economics professor Irwin Lipnowski believes it is due to a number of different factors, from geopolitical conflicts, environmental concerns and supply chain issues.

Talking to the Sun in mid-May, when local fuel costs jumped from $1.79 a litre to $1.87 a litre, Lipnowski said this upward trend in pricing is a lot more complicated than a simple supply-and-demand problem.

“The oil cartels say supply and demand and they are in a way right, but what they are doing is they see an opportunity and they are taking it and frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t take advantage of this sooner,” he said. “People perceive there is a shortage, places like Germany are under pressure to not buy oil or gas from Russia, so they go on the world market, and that puts pressure on the oil supply.”

This latest spike in Manitoba’s gas prices comes mere days after the European Union agreed to pursue a partial ban on Russian oil imports, seeking to punish the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine.

The ongoing conflict in Europe has had a massive impact on the global energy market, with Russia being one of the three top oil producers in the world behind the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, gas prices in fossil fuel-dependent nations like Canada have continued to spike.

According to the fuel-tracking website GasBuddy, residents of Newfoundland have to deal with the highest average gas prices in the country at $2.227 per litre as of Wednesday.

However, Manitoba remains the third-cheapest province for gasoline with an average of $1.947 per litre, lagging behind only Alberta and Saskatchewan at $1.758 per litre and $1.91 per litre, respectively.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com, with files from the Winnipeg Free Press

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson