Gas prices expected to drop Friday, though relief won’t last long: expert

Canadians for Affordable Energy president Dan McTeague says prices are set to drop by $0.09 per litre for regular gas and diesel, but warns it won't last.

Gas prices are expected to drop on Friday, according to one lobby group that closely monitors prices at the pumps.

Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, says prices are expected to dip by nine cents a litre, to an average of $1.82. He’s also forecasting a nine cent drop in diesel.

He chalks it up to a significant draw, which is a reduction of stored gas that determines the price of gas, diesel and other energy sources throughout North America.

McTeague said this usually means supply is running out and would normally lead to a rise in gas prices. But at the moment, that’s not the case.

“Prices would respond by saying,’ Hey, drop in supply means we got to do something about demand,’ but it didn’t. In fact, prices went the same route,” he said.

“They sold off $6, $7 a barrel. And the effect was about a 20 cent a gallon decrease, which is good enough for a 9 cent net decrease at the pumps come Friday.”

That relief isn’t expected to last long though. McTeague said come the weekend, prices could spike a few cents again.

“The reality is that prices have to continue to go up to reflect the reality that there’s a major shortage around the world, and it’s not getting any better the longer this goes,” he said.

McTeague said if the conflict resolves in the Middle East, he doesn’t expect the pricing rollercoaster to continue over the summer, since it will likely stabilize somewhere in the vicinity of what we’re currently paying.

That’s because the current gap of 1.6 billion barrels will take several months to fill, as the oil is travelling via seaborne vessels. Additionally, facilities throughout the Middle East, including some pipelines, have been damaged, and could take years to fix.

“Energy prices are going to remain very hot,” he said. “The longer we see these sort of falling prices when it makes no economic fundamental sense, the more serious and more aggravating the high prices are going to be in the foreseeable future, and that means a very expensive summer.”

McTeague said it’s important to plan accordingly and predicts that prices will continue to stay high into 2027.