Petroleum Pricing Adjustments

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission announced today that applications for crude oil cost-related increases have been approved by the Commission. Ultramar Ltd. and Co-op Atlantic have been authorized to increase by 1.7 cents per litre, Shell Canada Products Limited and Imperial Oil Limited have been authorized to increase by 1.8 cents per litre, Irving Oil Limited by 1.9 cents per litre and Petro-Canada by 2.0 cents per litre the prices of all products contained in their dealer and posted consumer schedules. Wilson Fuel Co. Limited received approval to increase its dealer prices by 1.8 cents per litre. While the cost of gasoline is based on various components, the increases allowed very much relate to crude oil prices. In this regard, the Commission notes that crude costs averages have doubled over the past year. Notwithstanding these approvals which provide for recovery of higher crude oil costs, the most recent independent survey available indicates that Prince Edward Island's prices for gasoline products continue to be considerably lower than the average prices of these products in most other areas of the Country.

Irving Oil Limited received approval to increase its current propane prices by 1.5 cents per litre based on increased product acquisition costs.

All pricing adjustments become effective at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, 1 January 2000.

Allowable pump prices and posted consumer prices of furnace fuel resulting from these approvals will be published shortly.