Big hike in Thompson-Okanagan gas prices heading into Thanksgiving long weekend

Vernon residents were hit with the highest gasoline prices in the Thompson-Okanagan yesterday at $1.58.9 for a litre of regular gas.

Now drivers in the rest of the Okanagan and Kamloops are digging deeper into their wallets with gas stations raising prices to $1.57.9 per litre today, Oct. 7. Not all stations were at that level by midday but every indication is that they’re on the way.

Even in Kamloops, where Costco often keeps prices lower than the Okanagan, about half the stations were showing $1.57.9 on GasBuddy.com, while the rest were mostly still at $1.47.9 Even Costco jumped from $1.39.9 yesterday to $1.46.9 today.

Penticton also showed a range of prices but, when a few stations raise prices, most others follow.

The cheapest gas in the region was at SuperSave in Salmon Arm at $1.39.9.

The fuel price consultancy firm Kalibrate and Kent Group says the national retail price for regular gasoline in Canada hit $1.45 per litre this week, the highest weekly average on record.

READ MORE: Canadians face record national average gasoline prices ahead of Thanksgiving weekend

The simple explanation for the high prices throughout Canada is that the price of crude oil has risen by $10 a barrel over the last three weeks, thus triggering higher prices at the pumps, Vijay Muralidharan, director of consulting with the Kalibrae group, told iNFOnews.

Normally the driving season ends with summer, demand decreases and prices ease. But, this year, the demand in the U.S. has remained strong, thus boosting the prices for crude oil. That should ease in November and December with a subsequent fall in prices, but there is no guarantee that will happen.

"It should pull back, technically, but the big is we don’t know what inflation in the U.S. is going to be," Muralidharan said. "We don’t know how overcooked the market will be. Those things we don’t know could be an influencer in crude pricing and influence retail oil prices."

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