Gas prices in the Maritimes have increased again following unscheduled changes earlier in the week. Nova Scotia Regular self-serve gasoline increased by 4.4 cents in the Halifax area overnight. The new minimum price is 181.4 cents per litre. The price of diesel increased by 9.3 cents for the second time this week, bringing the minimum price to 238.6 cents per litre. In Cape Breton, regular self-serve gasoline is now 183.3 cents per litre, and diesel is 240.3 cents per litre. On Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation, one man at the pumps was on a road trip with a large trailer from Moncton. He’d stopped to fuel up before catching the ferry in North Sydney, N.S., then driving across Newfoundland and back. He estimates it will all cost him around $2,000 in fuel. “Not good,” he said on Friday. “It’s rather expensive and it fluctuates so much,” added Tom Penney of Sydney, who was also filling up at the pumps in Membertou. The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has recently used its interrupter clause to bring gas prices in the province down, but it didn’t last long. “We have Mr. Trump to thank for all of this, let’s be very blunt,” Penney said. “It’s outrageous.” Industry analyst Dan McTeague asserted the up-and-down gas prices are being caused by market volatility surrounding the war in Iran. “It’s happening around the world,” McTeague said. He pointed to diesel prices going up again, more expensive than at the same time last year. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a scenario, at some point, where gasoline prices go up in one fell swoop by 25 to 30 cents a litre,” McTeague said. He added another major reason behind that would be a historic drop in oil supply. “Anybody who thinks these prices are too high and very uncomfortable - they are - but as the old expression goes, ‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,’” McTeague said. Prince Edward Island The minimum price of regular self-serve gasoline on P.E.I. increased by 3.4 cents overnight to 189.6 cents per litre. Diesel prices increased by 7.5 cents. The minimum price is 243.7 cents per litre. New Brunswick The price of regular self-serve gasoline increased by 1.5 cents in New Brunswick. The new maximum price is 181.3 cents per litre. Meanwhile, the price of diesel decreased by 0.7 cents. The maximum price is now 238.9 cents per litre. With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald
