A senior petroleum analyst is scratching his head why gas prices are 131.9 in Williams Lake.
“I am going to guess the gasoline is drawn from the refinery in Prince George-that’s where the benchmark not just for supply but also for price,” said Dan McTeague with GasBuddy.com
“When I add the four cents for transport on top of the wholesale for anybody at the Husky plant I come up with a number of about $1.06 maybe $1.07 for a liter of gasoline-that’s the wholesale price taxes in delivered. So 131.9 that’s about a twenty-five cent retail margin.”
McTeague said he can only suspect that sooner or later some of the gas stations will start to reflect what has been relatively constant and slightly lower prices over the past couple of weeks.
“At 25 cents a liter as a retail margin that’s virtually double what you see in major cities like Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal,” he said.
“Many of those large cities with lots more extensive real estate are selling gasoline at half that 12 cent margin, in other words, six or seven cents. What it really requires is for everyone to get an idea of what the price ought to be.”
As to what a fair price is depending on varying circumstances such as the number of clients that come in and the amount that is sold, McTeague believes a 12 cent retail margin would be reasonable.
“I would not think that anything above 119.9 at this point is warranted. They’re picking up a good 10 cents a liter over and above what would otherwise be in general terms justifiable.”
Gas prices Wednesday in 100 Mile according to GasBuddy were 134.9 and as much as 129.9 in Quesnel.