Relief at the pumps: Ottawa gas prices to drop 12 cents a litre over 2 days

Motorists fill up at a gas station in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 8. (Katie Griffin/CTV News Ottawa)

Ottawa motorists will find some relief at the gas pumps over the next two days, with prices set to drop below $1.90 a litre.

Gas prices dropped 5 cents a litre on Thursday morning to an average of 190.5 cents a litre.

Canadians for Affordable Energy President Dan McTeague tells CTV News Toronto prices will drop another seven cents a litre on Friday to 183.9 cents a litre.

“I know this is not great news for everybody, but It’s certainly better than where we might have been 72 hours ago, with pushing towards $2 a litre,” McTeague told Toronto’s CP24.

“The bottom line is don’t visit the gas station until Friday, if you can.”

The 12-cent drop in gas prices comes after a seven cent a litre jump on Wednesday.

McTeague says gas prices will continue to be “volatile” in the weeks ahead due to the war in the Middle East and prices could go “well above $2 a litre” in the weeks ahead.

He says it will take a lot of time to “get that balance of supply and demand” as long as the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.

“What it means is 2026 is going to be extraordinarily expensive, more volatility and I suspect the longer this war goes on the greater likely the impact will see us well above $2 a litre,” McTeague said, adding prices could top the 2022 high of $2.15 a litre.

Gas has jumped approximately $0.60 a litre in Ottawa since late February due to the war in the Middle East. On April 20, the federal government suspended the fuel excise tax on gasoline for the summer, dropping gas prices 11 cents a litre.

With files from CP24’s Bryann Aguilar

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