Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Although plenty of attention has been given to the rising price of gasoline and natural gas, Canadian propane prices are also skyrocketing – a surge analysts say will have a big impact on rural Canadians this winter.
Propane, produced as a by-product of natural gas, has seen a dramatic price increase over the last three months, with prices in Edmonton, for example, soaring to US$1.40 per gallon from roughly US$0.25 per gallon, according to ATB Capital Markets.
This seven-year high prompted a stark warning from research firm IHS Markit, who warned that U.S. propane prices are so high and supplies so scarce that the market appears headed for “armageddon” this winter, according to Bloomberg.
“The reason the prices are really high right now is that inventories are very, very low,” commodities analyst Rory Johnston told CTVNews.ca by phone Thursday.
“Both because of the drop in oil and natural gas production because of COVID and also because of energy prices globally, we've been exporting a lot of this fuel, propane and natural gas. At the same time we’re not producing as much domestically in North America.”
Johnston says a large part of the increase is due to overseas demand, where prices are even higher than North America.
“Propane inventories even lower than they are for natural gas. And even lower still, because exports have grown even more dramatically in propane then they have in natural gas,” he explained.
“Propane exports are now something like 60 per cent of the overall U.S. market for propane, or it is still only 15 per cent for natural gas.”
Extreme weather has also played a role in the energy prices in North America. Gas prices were initially in late September driven up thanks to Hurricane Ida, which shut down a good portion of U.S. oil and natural gas production in late August.
And with frigid winters expected both here at home and overseas, it doesn’t look like prices will let up any time soon.
“Honestly, we will know when the weather forecast get better,” Johnston said. “It seems unlikely that the crisis or rolling crises that we're seeing in Europe and Asia are going to let up any time soon unless there's a very mild winter… because then those two stocks finally get a chance to catch up will get that much more time for production to grow again.”
With energy prices continuing to rise, consumers all over Canada will likely face higher heating costs this winter. While natural gas is the primary energy source for more than half of Canadian homes, nearly 1.4 million households rely on heating oil or other fuels, including propane, to heat their homes, especially those in rural areas.
“Propane is the main one for rural and off grid communities,” said Johnston. “It’s going to be much more expensive to fill those propane tanks this winter – and it’s not even cold yet.”
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
A group of lawyers has written what they call a groundbreaking book about how mental health is perceived in the legal profession.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.