The relief at the pumps was short-lived in Metro Vancouver. While some drivers were able to fill up at $1.25 a litre Friday night, less than 48 hours later, those prices have jumped by more than 20 cents a litre.
Petroleum analyst Dan McTeague forecasted there would be a hike over the weekend but he calls the substantial spike unprecedented.
On Saturday, prices at the pumps were about $1.37 and they went up by 11 cents overnight to $1.48.
"It's very rare," said Dan McTeague, who heads the online gas database, GasBuddy. "I have never seen that in any market in a very long time."
McTeague attributes the pain at the pumps to a pipeline shutdown in Washington state.
The Olympic pipeline, which runs from Blaine, Wash. to Portland, Ore., was temporarily closed when routine maintenance led to the discovery of a problem that required the system to be taken offline for a period of time.
"Even though the Olympic pipeline is back up and running, it doesn't mean that everyone's supply is adequate. It means there's been a shortage in the system at a very critical time when no one anticipated it was going to happen," he explained.
He forecasts the prices will begin to drop by Thursday and by Christmas, drivers can expect to pay around $1.31 a litre.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith
