Drivers in Regina and Saskatoon saw prices at the pump hold steady around $1.18 per litre through the long weekend and into the first week of April.
Dan McTeague is a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com and expects to see prices drop down in the next few days after taking a 10 cent jump in the last week of March.
He said the wholesale price of gas is currently around $1.06 per litre, so as of Tuesday, gas stations are operating on a pretty steep retail margin.
“Those prices are likely to come down, if only because retailers are quickly going to find that several of their competitors will drop prices and that will force others to come down at some point,” McTeague told the CJME Morning Show.
McTeague said the typical retail margin for gas stations would be around six or seven cents per litre above the wholesale price rather than 13 cents.
“That’s why I think the $1.18.9 you’re looking at (for) a lot of stations today will collapse within the next 24 to 48 hours pushing us back to about $1.11 or even $1.12,”McTeague said.
Prices at the discount gas stations like Regina Cabs, Regina Messenger and Costco are already around the $1.06 mark while Saskatoon gas prices appear to be slightly higher, around $1.08. Gas prices in smaller towns are already closer to $1.06 per litre.
After moderating slightly this week, McTeague predicts gas prices will jump back up by five or six cents per litre next week when refineries make the switch from winter gas to summer gas.