Gas, diesel, oil all hit record prices this week
Energy and Utilities Board grants special price-limit increases
New Brunswick motorists were staring at gasoline prices of up to $1.70 in some locations Friday after Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered turmoil in international petroleum markets that has quickly forced record increases at stations across Atlantic Canada.
In New Brunswick, the Energy and Utilities Board regulates the maximum amount petroleum retailers can charge for fuel and added 4.4 cents to legal pump prices on Thursday. It then granted another 8.5 cents in a special price setting on Friday.
Furious trading on international markets beginning Monday rocketed the price of all fuels upward too rapidly for normal once-a-week regulated price changes to accommodate.
Diesel prices jumped even faster than gasoline and have also had to be adjusted twice. The price rose 18.7 cents in New Brunswick over the same two days.
Trading in furnace oil was so volatile, the EUB changed its maximum price three days in a row.
It eventually settled 19.7 cents higher than it had been on Tuesday.
All prices are records in New Brunswick.
Invasion, sanction, uncertainty
Russia is a major international exporter of both oil and refined petroleum products and the imposition of tight economic sanctions on it following the invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns about supplies worldwide.
That has triggered a bidding war for oil that is making its way through to all the products refined from crude, according to Vijay Muralidharan, a senior consultant at energy analytics firm Kalibrate.
"The war has put fear into the market," Muralidharan said in an interview with CBC News. "There's paranoia so you bid up to make sure your supply is there."
It's been a difficult year for consumers buying petroleum products. Prices for gasoline in New Brunswick are 44 cents higher than this time last year with diesel 65 cents more.
With files from Pete Evans