Motorists in Steinbach should expect gas prices to climb in the coming days.
That is according to Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy. De Haan made that comment in response to what has been happening in Winnipeg this week, where gas prices today average 132 cents per litre. Some stations last weekend were selling gas for as low as 111 cents per litre.
Though De Haan is not expecting gas prices to climb 20 cents per litre in Steinbach, he says if Winnipeg saw an increase, so too will The Automobile City.
"Certainly, what happens in Winnipeg probably will be filtered down," he says. "If you haven't seen increases yet hit the pump over the last couple of days, you likely will very shortly."
De Haan explains that the increase is because of the war in the Middle East, noting the attacks there have caused the price of oil to jump across North America.
De Haan says not only are tensions in the Middle East causing gasoline prices to climb, but the same is happening to diesel prices. He notes the price of diesel could climb anywhere from 10 to 30 cents per litre in the coming weeks, due to the low number of inventories for diesel.
Meanwhile, motorists this spring have been noticing higher gas prices in Steinbach than in some neighbouring communities. For example, when gas was selling for 111 cents per litre at some stations in Winnipeg last weekend, the price in Steinbach was hovering around 130 cents per litre.
"We tend to see some volatility between neighbouring cities like this, whether in Canada or in the States," says De Haan. "But such a significant departure is fairly rare, it's hard to justify as well."
He notes in the last week alone there has been an incredible amount of volatility with oil prices surging six or eight per cent and then dropping four per cent.
"That amount of volatility also impacts what stations are paying and could dictate what they sell their gasoline for," he explains.
And, if a gas station only fills its tank once every couple of weeks, De Haan says there could be "a massive increase in the price" from the previous time they brought in fuel.
"Oil price is now nearly $20 a barrel higher than where they were just a couple of months ago," he says. "And that is leading to gas prices surging. We're already seeing Manitoba prices up five cents a litre here just in the last week and we could see them go up another five to seven cents a litre here very shortly."
As for gas prices this summer, De Haan says Steinbach currently has among the lowest summer levels since 2021. He notes that a lot of what we will experience over the next couple of weeks will be influenced by what happens in the Middle East. If tensions de-escalate, De Haan says we could see prices in the 120 to 130 cents per litre range.
"But if things escalate, we could go the wrong way and see prices back over 140 cents per litre and potentially even 150 cents per litre if things really do escalate in a significant way," he adds.
De Haan says the threat of U.S. tariffs is playing less of a role in gas prices these days. He notes that when tariffs were threatened back in early April, it caused oil prices, global economies and stock markets to decline significantly. However, since then, President Trump has reached new deals with several countries and De Haan says this caused oil prices to rebound.
According to GasBuddy, the average price of gas today in Manitoba is 130.4 cents per litre. This is the second-lowest average in Canada. Alberta is currently averaging 128.7 cents per litre, while the most expensive fuel is in B.C. at 154.4 cents per litre. The cheapest average price of fuel in Canada today is in Peterborough, Ontario at 118.3 cents per litre. The most expensive fuel is in Victoria, B.C. at 167 cents per litre.
In Steinbach, the average today is 130.9 cents per litre, compared to the national average of 138.3 cents per litre. One year ago today, the average price in Steinbach was 138.9 cents per litre. In the last year, the lowest price in Steinbach was 121.9 cents per litre back on November 14th.