‘Good old-fashioned price war’: Some Calgary gas stations see prices near a dollar

Some Calgary drivers were the lucky few, as a short-lived gas price war saw some stations drop their prices to nearly a dollar per litre.

Several Calgary gas stations were seeing lineups and packed pumps as drivers looked to take advantage of prices nearing a dollar per litre, a price point the city hadn’t seen since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some stations saw prices as low as 102.9 c/L on Tuesday morning, while other locations—some within just blocks of the cheaper offerings—still saw prices at 122.9 c/L or higher.

“I mean, as an analyst, it makes you scratch your head how they’re able to take it on the chin like that, but it looks like it’s just a good old-fashioned price war. So, bottom line, enjoy it while you can,” said Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis with GasBuddy.com.

A lineup of about two dozen cars wrapped around part of the parking lot at the Mobil gas station in Shawnessy to fill up at 103.8c/L.

“I drive for Uber, so I’m trying to get the cheapest gas possible because it costs me a lot of money driving,” said Ryan Carpenter. “I saw the price at $1.03 and figured this is a lot better than the $1.35 downtown.”

According to GasBuddy.com, the last time prices neared a loonie in Calgary was at the end of 2020. As of Tuesday afternoon, the price of regular gasoline in Calgary still sat at 128.6c/L, according to the gas tracking site.

“We have seen an incredible amount of volatility in the price of gasoline over the last couple of weeks. We’ve seen Middle East tensions flare up, the price of oil surging, then plummeting. So keep in mind that stations generally filled our underground tanks every two to four days. And with all that volatility, that can create a wildly varying environment,” explained De Haan.

At a Tempo gas station in Sundance, drivers were able to fill up at 102.9c/L.

“I’m just happy as a consumer that’s coming down a bit for us. It’s a bit of a break considering all the cost of living has gone up in Calgary, so I appreciate what’s going on,” said Dave Chow.

Both Tempo and Mobil were back up to 122 c/L later in the afternoon.