Gas prices in Metro Vancouver are expected to reach an all-time high Saturday following a pipeline explosion in B.C.'s Interior that put two natural gas lines out service earlier this week.
Prices at the pumps jumped four cents Thursday and reached 161.9 cents per litre at several Vancouver gas stations Friday, tying the current record set back in April.
GasBuddy.com analyst Dan McTeague expects prices to jump another two cents on Saturday to a historic 163.9 cents.
Some Metro Vancouver drivers, who already face some of the highest gas prices on the continent, say even an extra few cents will be felt in a big way.
"It's quite irritating. I actually work for a not-for-profit and we have to try to fuel all our vehicles every day and it's costing us a small fortune," driver Will Shields to CTV News. "Just like everybody else, we just struggle along and struggle along, but somebody's getting rich and it's not anybody that I know."
"My truck is a gas-guzzler and it's getting ridiculous," said Ashley Jacobson, another driver. "It's just crazy, especially because I'm planning a long trip and the last thing you want to do is spend so much money on gas, am I right?"
The spike comes after a 900 PSI natural gas line operated by Enbridge ruptured north of Prince George on Tuesday, forcing crews to take it and a neighbouring pipeline out of commission.
According to McTeague, oil refineries in Canada and the U.S. use natural gas to produce gasoline and have had to cut down on production in the wake of the blast, sending prices at the pumps soaring.
"That's caused markets to respond rather dramatically," McTeague said. "It speaks to the volatile nature of production and supply and demand in the Pacific Northwest market."
Slightly cheaper gas could be found in the suburbs Friday, with the cost per litre as low as 139.9 cents in parts of the Fraser Valley. On average, prices were within a few cents of the $1.50 mark in Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Allison Hurst
