After more than a week of steady gas prices in Metro Vancouver, the cost dipped Friday and is expected to fall even further Saturday.
According to gas-price prediction site Gas Wizard, regular gas is expected to dip to 193.9 cents per litre on Saturday, down from Friday's price of 198.9. On Thursday, the price was 201.9 at many local stations.
Prices last broke a record on June 6, reaching 236.9. While they've since fallen, they've remained around 200 cents per litre for the past week.
Experts say the markdown is due to several factors, mainly a sharp decrease in the price of oil.
“Crude oil, when we last spoke in June, was 96 to 98 cents per litre,” said Vijay Muralidharan, managing director of Calgary-based R Cube Economic Consulting.
“That has coming down to 80 cents per litre on average in Canada. That’s a big drop.”
Muralidharan said fuel taxes and ongoing sanctions on Russian oil products continue to make gas pricier than usual. However, he predicts long-lasting relief for drivers because of so-called "demand fear," or the idea that skyrocketing inflation will deter people from buying as much gas in the coming months.
“The cost of living is rising and people can’t afford it. Interest rates are rising. That is going to have implications on demand, meaning demand will have to pull back,” he explained.
“You start thinking twice. Do I drive more, or do I pay down my debt? There’s a lot of tough choices to make, and that will slowly feed into gasoline and diesel demand.”
Last July, the cost of a litre of gas was around 173 cents per litre in Metro Vancouver. Muralidharan doesn’t rule out prices dropping back down to that level by the fall.
“It’s going to take a little more time - up to September or October - to see the full effect,” he said.
Metro Vancouver's gas prices are typically among the highest in the country. But as of Friday, prices are believed to be higher in the province's Sunshine Coast and Columbia Shuswap regions, according to a heat map from GasBuddy.com.
Earlier this year, when drivers were paying what was at the time a record-breaking 214.9 cents a litre, B.C. Premier John Horgan promised relief in the form of a one-time $110 rebate.
That record has been broken several times since, but the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia said there are currently no plans for another initiative like the rebate.
Initially, most drivers were expected to get that rebate in June. But in an update earlier this month, ICBC told CTV News that about 860,000 insured drivers have received that payout. With an estimated 3.5 million expecting cheques, that meant about 2.46 million were still waiting for the money.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Kendra Mangione
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