PETROLEUM PRICING
 



Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, September 14, 2008 — The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission announced today the following petroleum pricing decisions, effective September 15, 2008:

  • Gasoline prices will increase by 9.0 cents per litre (cpl);

  • Furnace oil and stove oil prices will decrease by 4.5 cpl; 

  • Diesel prices will decrease by 5.5 cpl; and

  • There will be no changes in propane prices at this time.

Including taxes, pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline at self-serve outlets will now range from 136.0 cpl to 138.1 cpl.

Hurricane Ike impacted petroleum market prices late last week as industry prepared for the potential loss of millions of barrels of oil production due to storm related damage. Markets reacted because the Gulf Coast area is home to refineries that produce more than 7 million barrels of refined products daily, especially gasoline, representing almost 50% of total U.S. refining capacity. Refineries shut down in advance of the storm and that supply reduction is compounded by the lingering effects of recent Hurricane Gustav with approximately 1.5 million barrels per day of oil production remaining offline due to that storm's damage.

Market reaction has focused on the gasoline market with minimal immediate impact on distillate product prices including those for furnace oil and diesel. 

Depending upon the amount of damage inflicted by the storm and the related turnaround time required to return area refineries to full production, there may be a lingering impact on product prices. As was the case with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the Commission will continue to monitor market prices and make adjustments as necessary.

The Commission's next scheduled price adjustment will be on October 1, 2008.

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Click here for published prices effective September 15, 2008.

 

Posted: 2008/09/14