Gas prices at a level rarely seen in more than a decade

Apr 3, 2020 | 12:20 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – As Albertans have watched the price of oil on world markets drop over the past few months they’ve also seen the price of gas at the pumps drop.

The current average in Medicine Hat is 73.9 cents per litre, but gas can be found as low as 67.9 cents.

Fuel-tracking site gasbuddy.com posts records back to 2008 and today’s prices are the lowest average on this date in the past 12 years. The highest price on this date? Just one year ago, when the average price was 118.9.

“the last time the prices were this low was very briefly in early 2016 for just about a week. Before that, the 2008/2009 recession.” _{Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy}

Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, tells CHAT News Today “the last time the prices were this low was very briefly in early 2016 for just about a week. Before that, the 2008/2009 recession.”

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DeHaan says prices have dropped so fast because, essentially, gasoline demand has been curbed with millions staying home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He adds the oil production war between Saudi Arabia and Russia is flooding the market with oil and curbing oil prices as well.

The pandemic and the lack of a timeline for any sort of return to normalcy makes any forecasting difficult, DeHaan says.

“But when people start driving again, going back to work en masse, then prices will likely recover moreso,” he said, adding next week’s meeting of oil producing countries may provide some clarity.

Western Canadian Select closed at $9.92 on Thursday, up $5.01 from the day before. WTI Crude was trading at $27.62 at noon on Friday.

by Chris Brown

Gas prices at a level rarely seen in more than a decade

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