Gas prices staying high

Photo: CTV

GasBuddy.com's Dan McTeague is sounding the alarm over high gas prices in  Vancouver.

"We're getting very close to the all-time highs and that all-time high was $1.56 back in the second week of August in 2013," said Dan McTeague of GasBuddy.com. "I doubt it will stay there, but it is certainly an early warning at $1.50 in the months of January and February when prices usually tumble."

McTeague said a shortage of supply in the Pacific Northwest is inflating prices at the pump, and the trend is likely to culminate in the summer when demand is highest and the fuel blend required for warmer weather is more expensive to produce.

"The fact that we're paying 20 cents more a litre than we were this time last year, I think, is a very ominous portent of what we can expect this summer when there is usually anywhere from a five to 10-cent a litre increase," he said.

According to McTeague, the region's supply problems are caused largely by temporary closures at the ParkLand Refinery in Burnaby and two major facilities south of the border that are undergoing maintenance.

Prices across the Okanagan range from a high of $1.26 in Kelowna and Penticton to $1.25 in Vernon.

-with files from CTV