Quote:
...Oil has to be transported, stored, refined, taxed and delivered to stations. "There's a lot of moving parts. We have a glut of oil but still have a tight market for gasoline," McTeague said...
The U.S. has also become a major exporter of gasoline, tightening up the domestic supply.
"We see high demand bumping up against tight supplies -- we see this every year," Parent said.
PROFIT
Wholesales pries have jumped 3.4 cents a litre in the past few weeks. McTeague said the increase is unjustified and simply pocketed by the big oil companies because of a lack of competition.
LOW LOONIE
That $60-a-barrel oil is always priced in U.S. dollars, even if it's produced in Canada. With a loonie down around 80 cents USD, that means $60 a barrel is more like $75 a barrel in Canadian dollars.
Along with price, our market is also driven by U.S. supply. Although Canada produces plenty of crude, we don't have the refining capacity to meet our daily demand of about 2.3 million barrels. Wholesale prices have been climbing because four big U.S. refineries have cut back production due to breakdowns and maintenance.
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This article does not look like a serious analysis. Most of the explanations that I've highlighted below are actually NOT explaining but contradicting higher gasoline prices. And one of them actually indirectly supports my suspicion of price collusion between the producers. The only explanation that does make some sense is Canadian lack of refining capacity, which I find bizarre, if true, for a resource-based economy.