Analysts are warning Metro Vancouver drivers that gas prices could reach $1.50 a litre by the end of the week due to refinery closures.
Prices have already increased by around 10 cents in recent days, hitting $1.489 a litre Tuesday morning, and Dan McTeague from GasBuddy.com expects it will get worse before it gets better.
McTeague blamed the dramatic spike on the lack of available oil refineries. Parkland Fuel Corp.'s refinery in Burnaby is closed for five weeks of repairs, and two others in the U.S. will soon be following suit.
"You have an acute shortage in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, and unless the Americans are willing to supply us more we don't really have any other options," McTeague said.
"The fact is that we've painted ourselves into a corner, we just don't have alternative supplies."
If prices at the pumps do reach $1.50 a litre, it will be the first time B.C. drivers have been dinged that hard since 2014.
It doesn’t appear the cost of gas will be dropping significantly any time soon, either. Experts expect prices to jump another three or four cents toward the end of March when suppliers switch to summer gasoline blends and U.S. demand increases.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim
