The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission announced today the following petroleum pricing decisions, effective April 15, 2007:
• Gasoline prices will increase by 2.0 cents per litre (cpl).
• Furnace fuel and stove oil prices will increase by 1.0 cpl.
• Diesel prices will increase by 3.0 cpl.
• Existing propane prices will remain in effect.
Including taxes, pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline at self-serve outlets will now range from 111.3 cpl to 112.9 cpl.
In announcing the price adjustments, the Commission noted that a number of supply-related issues have combined to put upward pressure on North American oil prices:
• Refineries in the U.S. continue to deal with maintenance-related production interruptions which have hampered their ability to build gasoline inventories in anticipation of the coming summer driving season. North American gasoline inventories have fallen now for nine consecutive weeks and now stand at 4% less than their five year average.
• Domestic North American consumer demand for gasoline continues to grow. The U.S. Department of Energy reported this week that, for the past four week period, demand for gasoline was 2.4% higher than the same period last year.
• The lingering effect of the recent port workers’ strike in France has delayed shipments of finished European gasolines to the North American market thus compounding an already tight inventory situation.
The combination of a continued strong demand, refinery production issues and declining supplies as refiners switch to the production of cleaner burning summer blends have all contributed to the increased spot market pricing of refined petroleum products during this past two week period.
Average NYMEX reported pricing:
Regular Unleaded Gasoline (cpl)
Feb 1 - Feb 27 ~ 50.4
Mar 1 - Mar 29 ~ 59.4
Mar 30 – April 12 ~ 62.3
The Commission’s next scheduled pricing adjustment date is April 30, 2007.