‘The Hurricane Harvey effect:’ storm behind gas price hikes

It’s the Labour Day weekend and that means drivers could be on their way out camping or headed to Mosaic Stadium for the Rider game, but that’s not going to be easy on their pockets.

For the second time in a week, gas prices in Regina have spiked.

Dan McTeague, senior gas analyst at GasBuddy.com, calls it “the Hurricane Harvey Effect” as the storm has a major pipeline and 16 refineries in the United States offline.

“That means that there is going to be shortages, there are going to be disruptions,” he told the CJME Morning Show Friday. “We’ve already seen, of course, the higher prices associated with that disruption.”

Gas prices in Regina jumped by seven cents a litre earlier this week. As of Friday, most pumps sat around 110 cents a litre for regular fuel in the Queen City.

Over seven days, Saskatoon saw gas prices rise from 99.9 cents a litre to 109.9 cents as of Friday.

By Thursday, they’d risen another ten cents. McTeague said they’ll likely stay high throughout September, at least.

“You could see prices moving up by the end of next week,” he said, indicating another jump at the pump. “This is as bad as it gets until after Labour Day.”

It could always be worse, however – McTeague said prices rose in Ontario and Quebec by 20 cents a litre across the board.