Motorists fuming! Pump price hits a record 79.9 cents

www.canoe.ca By KEITH BRADFORD, EDMONTON SUN

Gas prices were pumped up to a new record high of 79.9 cents per litre in Edmonton yesterday - and analysts warn it could cost even more to fuel up. Blaming uncertainty over a possible war with Iraq, low stocks, and the high price of crude oil, most city stations yesterday hiked prices by up to four cents a litre. "People noticed and they are not happy about it at all," said Krystal Triplett, a cashier at Petro-Canada, 5661 23 Ave., where prices jumped from 75.9 to 79.9 yesterday. "People say it's ridiculous they are paying that much." Gale Desmoulin, a cashier at Shell, 3518 118 Ave., said customers rushed to fill up yesterday afternoon before the pump price jumped from 76 cents per litre to 79.9. "They are gassing up right now before it changes." Michael Ervin of Calgary-based MJ Ervin & Associates, which monitors pump prices across Canada, said 79.9 is a new record in Edmonton - beating the previous high of 75.3 set Feb. 11. "We have seen costs going up pretty substantially as a result of higher crude costs and relatively low inventories of gas across North America," said Ervin. "I really think that in most markets we are seeing prices pretty much topped out. But it could possibly get worse if a ground engagement starts in Iraq." Ervin said his company tracks prices at the start of each week - so mid-week and weekend price hikes are not recorded. While the average price at the pumps in Edmonton was about 73.7 earlier this week, it was only 67.1 in Calgary, said Ervin. But it could be worse - drivers in Whitehorse were paying 94.9. "The supplies are very tight on the east part of North America and it's starting to back up across the country," said Ted Stoner, spokesman for Canadian Petroleum Products Institute - which represents refining companies including Petro-Canada, Shell and Imperial Oil. "I don't know of any problems in the Edmonton refineries. The only thing I could put (the price hike) to is the world reaction to what's going on in Iraq." Stoner said "civil disruption" in Venezuela had contributed to increases, but the situation has since improved and now has a minimal impact on prices. "The main driver for gasoline prices is the price of oil," said Vincent Lauerman, global energy analyst with the Canadian Energy Research Institute in Calgary. "Our expectation is that by the mid-year, prices should be quite a lot lower - assuming a war is relatively short." Action Against High Gas Prices spokesman Chris Spearman said he can't understand why prices are so high in Edmonton. "How can they charge 65 cents in Calgary and Medicine Hat and this in Edmonton? We can never figure that out," he said. "I think we are being exploited by world circumstances. Profit is not a bad word, but greed is."