My friend from Alberta sent out a group text this morning: a photo of a snow-dusted gasoline pump display with “99.9” glowing in the cents/litre screen.
A few minutes later, my phone buzzed with another text, “Wow Ottawa is at 100.9…pretty close”. After my initial, “what is this witchcraft?”-reaction, I did a bit of perusing and found that apparently gas prices were predicted to drop over the holiday season. The internet rejoiced! All was saved! But the thing is, gas prices are never going to really drop; the demand is too great for the supply. The changes we’re seeing are just relative to horrifying peaks that occur during the summer months, which are cyclical anyway.
It got me wondering about the factors influencing gas prices. Continue Reading