Fuel prices rising in Saskatchewan

Commuters across Saskatchewan are dealing with a holiday gift no one wanted: rising fuel prices.

The price of a litre of gasoline is more thanone dollar at many locations across both major cities. Diesel is inching closer to the dollar threshold and is more thana dollar in some locations, hovering around 96 cents per litre in most cases.

According to Gas Buddy, the average cost of fuel in Regina will hit your wallet at approximately $1.03per litre in Saskatoon the average is $1.06.

The site reports the national average to be hovering around $1.10 per litre.

Not so simple

Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst for Gas Buddy, said there are likely a couple of things contributing to the higher prices.

McTeaguesaid stations buying fuel are likely purchasing it at one dollar or so per litre themselves, and when people purchase it with credit cards, which also costs a few cents to the store each transaction, there isn't a lot of room for a profit margin.

"That's the bad news," McTeague said.

Last week, two refineries in the U.S. one each being owned by Exxon and BP temporarily shut down. The shutdowns have resulted in prices rising across the countrybut when they reopen pricescould rebound.

"It means we could see prices move back down to the dollar per litre mark, possibly over the next few days."

'Holiday pricing'

When it comes to prices seemingly rising to coincide with people travelling for the holidays, McTeague said it may seem suspicious but businesses wanting to make a little extra coin is not entirely the case.

"We are price-takers," McTeague said of Canada.

Canada takes whatever fuel price is established on the market in Chicago, and then apply it using Canadian dollars and metrics.

"The only safety mechanism, the only real shock absorber the motorist has is retailers basically giving their nine or10 cent retail margin until they have no more gasoline in their tanks and they have to operate with a higher price."

He expects higher pricesto stay around until after the long weekend but says the prices are more coincidence than anything.

McTeague expects prices to fall down to roughly $1.03 in January.