PETROLEUM PRICING ADJUSTMENTS

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, January 31, 2001 — The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission announced today that applications for adjustments in the prices of gasoline and distillate products (furnace oil, stove oil and diesel) have been approved by the Commission.  Effective Thursday, February 1, 2001, wholesale dealer and consumer prices for gasoline products and wholesale dealer diesel prices will DECREASE by the following amounts:

Ultramar Ltd. by 8.3 cents per litre (cpl), Shell Canada Products Limited by 7.9 cpl, Imperial Oil Limited by 8.4 cpl, Irving Oil Limited by 8.4 cpl, Petro-Canada by 8.3 cpl and Co-op Atlantic by 7.5 cpl.  

Wholesale prices for furnace oil, stove oil and consumer diesel products will decrease by the following amounts:

Ultramar Ltd. by 5.3. cpl (cents per litre), Shell Canada Products Limited by 4.9 cpl, Imperial Oil Limited by 5.4 cpl, Irving Oil Limited by 5.4 cpl, Petro-Canada by 5.3 cpl and Co-op Atlantic by 4.5 cpl.  

In addition, Irving Oil Limited  and Superior Propane Inc. received approval to increase their respective propane pricing schedules as follows:.

Irving Oil Limited - 5.8 cpl
Superior Propane Inc. – 7.7 cpl

The pricing adjustments authorized for February are based on December, 2000 crude and current non-crude-related pricing factors. The average furnace oil price effective February 1, 2001 on Prince Edward Island will be approximately 47.5 cents per litre.  The average pump price of regular unleaded gasoline at self-serve outlets will be 70.6 cents per litre.  

All pricing adjustments become effective at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, February 1, 2001.  Allowable pump prices and posted consumer prices of furnace fuel resulting from these approvals will be published shortly.