Consider it something of a 150th-birthday present to Canadian drivers: the price of gasoline across the country is expected to be the lowest it's been in seven years for a July long weekend.
Pump price monitor GasBuddy.com showed gasoline prices in Canada are averaging $1.04 per litre, or 14 cents lower than the 10-year average, and the lowest since 2010, even though gasoline taxes have risen in many provinces in the past seven years.
What's more, gasoline has been less expensive in June than it was in January. Summer gasoline blends have fewer emissions and are more expensive to refine, one of the reasons why gas prices move up in the summer.
Three factors are at play in the gasoline market this summer:
A downturn in the price of crude, which has hovered around $45 U.S. for the past several weeks.
Lower than expected demand for gas as the summer driving season starts.
Large inventories of gasoline in the United States.
Canadian gasoline prices tend to be based on U.S. wholesale market prices, which are set daily by refiners. Refineries in the U.S have been working at near full capacity to get ready for what was expected to be a busy summer driving season, but demand has yet to come through as expected.
However, the lower prices in the market may help to spur that demand. GasBuddy estimated that gasoline prices south of the border are at 12-year gulches, with gas averaging $2.21 U.S. per gallon, almost a dollar lower than the 10-year average.
