The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission announced today that wholesalers have been authorized to increase petroleum prices in their dealer and consumer schedules by 1.0 cents per litre (cpl) on gasoline and diesel and by 2.0 cpl on furnace fuel and stove oil, effective 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, February 1, 2006.
Including adjustments for changes in the provincial tax calculations, pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline at self-serve outlets will now range from 103.0 cpl to 104.6 cpl.
In addition, Irving Oil Limited received approval to decrease by 0.8 cpl and Superior Propane Inc. received approval to decrease by 1.8 cpl all propane costs contained in their respective propane pricing schedules based on decreases in product costs.
In announcing the price changes, the Commission noted that there has been a significant increase in crude prices over this past month, up $4.00 per barrel over the past two weeks and up $7.00 per barrel since January 1. The increases have affected international commodity market prices and have necessitated adjustments to local prices. Favourable builds in North American propane inventories over the same period, however, have enabled modest price reductions for this product.
While the milder than normal winter weather experienced this year has been a moderating influence on petroleum prices, a number of geopolitical tensions combined with market concerns regarding overall global supply and demand issues have resulted in a significant escalation in world crude prices thus far in 2006.
The Commission’s next scheduled price adjustment will be on February 15th.