Motorists hitting the pumps in the Cariboo were in for a rude awakening.
Prices took a spike with 100 Mile House taking the lead at 136.9 Thursday morning according to Gas Buddy.
Senior petroleum analyst Dan McTeague says the higher prices are being seen all across western Canada with the exception of the Lower Mainland due to being influenced by two main events in the US.
“Last week an important gasoline pipeline that sends a lot of fuel, gasoline, diesel from the US Gulf Coast all the way up to Chicago and the US Midwest had ruptured. We also saw 2-3 refineries that went through delayed maintenance due to the effects of hurricane Harvey.”
McTeague says that due to those coinciding events gas retailers likely found that their wholesale price increased 12 cents a liter and that they had to drive the prices up.
He says he believes that the prices will slowly start to climb down within the next 7 to 10 days as repairs are made on the Explorer Pipeline after which motorists should see prices below 120.9.
The average price at the pumps in BC Thursday morning according to Gas Buddy was 132.9.