Drivers across Metro Vancouver may finally see some relief at the pumps heading into the weekend, with gas prices expected to fall six cents per litre on Friday.
Chief petroleum analyst at En-Pro International, Roger McKnight, says, based on wholesale market trends, the drop will take place overnight.
The decrease follows a period of volatility driven by global supply concerns, shifts in refinery output, and fluctuating wholesale prices.
Gas prices have been trending upwards around the globe since the onset of the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran and disruptions to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, curtailing the flow of millions of barrels of crude each day.
McKnight says the market is now reacting to rumours that U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed the war may end soon.
“How long the euphoria lasts is anyone’s guess, as Trump policies are a day-to-day guessing game,” he added.
At the start of the week, the average price for a litre of regular gas in the Vancouver area was $2.17. GasBuddy.com analysts said it rose five cents per litre in the week before the May long weekend.
On Tuesday, Statistics Canada cited the cost of gasoline as driving the annual rate of inflation up to 2.8 per cent in April.
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StatCan said the cost of gasoline was 28.6 per cent higher year-over-year last month as conflict in the Middle East disrupted global oil shipments, sending costs soaring at the gas pumps. April also marked the switch to more expensive summer gasoline blends at gas stations in Canada.
The agency noted the federal government’s move to suspend the fuel excise tax mid-month helped moderate the April price increase.
StatCan’s April report marks a jump from March’s inflation rate of 2.4 per cent, though a Reuters poll of economists had expected inflation would accelerate even more to top three per cent. The April figures mark the highest annual inflation rate since May 2024.
As of Thursday morning, gas prices in Vancouver ranged broadly from $2.09 to $2.26 per litre.
—With files from The Canadian Press and Lucas Casaletto