In the last month, the price of gasoline has gone up 25 cents per litre in Moose Jaw. Most recently, fuel prices exploded up 20 cents in the last week to as high as 185.9 cents per litre.  

As of Friday morning, the price of gas within the city is ranging from 175.9 to 185.9 cents per litre.  

The rising fuel prices were attributed to oil refinery issues in the United States and Western Canada in the last month, which in turn lowered production and increased prices.  

A week later, those oil refineries are slowly improving, which makes Patrick DeHaan, a GasBuddy Petroleum Analyst believe that prices will begin to slowly go down in the next couple of weeks.  

“We won’t go all the way back down to the levels we were at maybe a month ago, but as those refineries are back online or get back online in the Great Lakes that will help to bring some price relief here primarily next week and maybe the week after,” says DeHaan.  

Another reason behind the sudden surge in fuel prices in Canada was the anticipated decision by OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to cut production to the US, which was made official on Wednesday.  

They agreed to decrease production by 2 million barrels per day to the United States starting in November, which will and continue to have an effect on Canada.  

“They were certainly unhappy with the plummet we’ve seen in oil prices. Last week, oil prices have dropped to their lowest levels since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at about $77 a barrel.” 

DeHaan adds that there could be also political motivation within OPEC’s country base for their decision to cut oil production. He notes that this drastic decision is unnecessary as global inventories remain extremely tight. 

In saying that though, the current sanctions on Russia’s energy industry by a number of countries are still playing a part in fuel prices in Canada and Moose Jaw.  

“Oil is not yet to flow freely from Russia as a result of those sanctions.” 

Last year, the U.S. imported nearly 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil and refined petroleum products from Russia. 

Though it is positive news that motorists in Moose Jaw could see some relief coming out of the Thanksgiving long weekend, DeHaan says things still could change causing it to spike once again.  

“If there are any new refinery issues the prediction of falling prices could go right out the window. There are a lot of delicacies in the market right now in terms of issues that are driving prices that could change at a moment's notice. While I am hopeful that the refinery improvements will push prices down starting next week for maybe a week or two, it is a very fragile situation.” 

As we head into the long weekend, DeHaan does want to warn motorists that residual increases could happen.  

On Friday morning, the average price of gasoline in Moose Jaw was reported at 185.9, which is five cents high than the provincial average, and 10 cents higher than the country’s average.  

Vancouver, BC, remains the most expensive place in Canada to get fuel coming in with a price of 239.9 cents per litre. St. Thomas, ON, takes over the cheapest price of fuel in Canada with a price of 143.9 cents per litre.