Gas Prices Expected to Stay Steady This Summer

Tuesday, 30 June 2015 06:41

A McMaster University Professor gives us his summer prediction for the pumps.

Don't expect to see a huge jump at the pumps this summer in Oxford County.

Heart FM spoke with McMaster University Professor Marvin Ryder who says the prices should stay pretty steady this summer. "I think you're going to see gas bounce between a $1.12 a litre and a $1.20 a litre between now and Labour Day. Why is that? Because I think the price of oil has stabilized somewhere between $58 and $60 a barrel."

Ryder says there is a strong demand for gas in the summertime which is helping to drive up the prices. He notes you will likely see the prices closer to the $1.20 mark during long weekends when oil companies know people are going to be travelling. "Canada Day falls on a Wednesday this year which really doesn't create a long weekend, but as we look at the August Long Weekend and the Labour Day weekend, those will still fall on the Monday for sure creating a 3 day weekend. And I'm fairly sure on those weekends we will be on the high end of that range - a little closer to $1.20 a litre, and then after the weekend is over, miraculously prices will fall into the $1.13 a litre range."

Ryder says the only thing that would drive up the price of gas would be an uncertainty on the world market, like a financial crisis; such as the one happening in Greece right now. Prices should stay pretty steady this summer. "But barring something like that, some kind of financial crisis that grips the market place. Really oil is in for a very quiet time and should be stuck there for the rest of summer. And even as we head into the fall and winter we are not expecting to see gasoline prices and oil prices to move much at all." Another thing to watch out for is the Canadian dollar - if our dollar was stronger right now we would be paying less at the pumps.

The average price for gas in Woodstock this morning is $1.16.