Litre of gas to hit $1.32 in wake of hurricane
Torontonians can expect to pay more than $1.30 for a litre of gasoline by Saturday as prices continue to surge in the wake of hurricane Harvey.
Motorists awoke to a hike of about five cents a litre on Friday, and will likely see the price rise another nine cents Saturday, says petroleum analyst Dan McTeague.
That will put the average price of gas in Toronto at $1.329, a spike in prices more severe than that seen during hurricane Katrina, says McTeague, the former Pickering MP who runs the price-tracking website gasbuddy.com.
Comparing Harvey to past storms, McTeague said, “we’re already 20 cents a litre above what we were eight days ago before the storm, so this is, by far and away, the most serious and most impactful.”
Hurricanes Katrina and Ike each brought an increase of between 12 to 14 cents per litre to Toronto, McTeague explained.
He predicts there will be a two-cent decrease in gas prices on Sunday night and that price will hold at the pumps at least until Thursday.
Saturday’s prices could hit a high last seen by Toronto drivers in September 2014. The highest price Torontonians have paid for gas was $1.477 on July 4, 2008, McTeague said.
Major gasoline refineries in the U.S. were shut down by Harvey, which also caused the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline — what McTeague calls the “aortic artery” of gasoline transportation for the U.S. Atlantic Coast.
In Canada, prices are also affected by a lack of competition among gasoline wholesalers and taxes, McTeague explained.
“We have seen prices go up in a nanosecond. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world,” he said.
It could be two to three weeks before refineries are up and running again, according to McTeague.
“Ten days ago, we were $1.10. We’re now at $1.329 (Saturday),” he said. “That’s a pretty big impact.”
In Toronto, some drivers decided to hit the pumps early to save a few dollars before the price hike.
As he filled up his car at Leslieville Pumps on Friday morning, David Miller said he was worried about the impending price hike.
“Even yesterday, I was going to the gym in the morning and it was $1.05, then by the time I came out in an hour it was at $1.18, so that was a little scary,” said Miller, adding he expected to see more people in line at the gas station.
As much as the hurricane-induced gas hikes might be inconvenient, he said he’s more worried about the people in Texas right now.
“So I think we start with the people first, but it’s obviously, it sucks economically,” Miller said.
A long line of cars stretched from the pumps at the Costco on Queen Elizabeth Blvd. in Etobicoke on Friday morning, where gas was selling for $1.139.
Robin Stuart was back for the third time that day trying to get gas — when he first came at 7:30 a.m., he said the lineup was backed up down to the Queensway.
“It was just too much, I’d be burning too much more gas. It’s totally inefficient,” he said.
Rajeev Viswanathan waited about 20 minutes for gas at Costco — but he’s waited longer in the past.
“I heard the gas prices are going up another dime tomorrow, and Costco’s pretty good, it’s cheaper,” he said, adding his tank is empty and he would have probably waited in line anyway.
“It’s all Houston-related, I think it’s temporary. It’ll go back down.”