P.E.I. fuel prices dive again as COVID-19 lowers demand

Prices for gas, heating oil and diesel all fell sharply again overnight Thursday.

Prices have plummeted in the last two weeks, driven both by declining demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and a crude oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

• The minimum price of a litre of self-service, regular gasoline is down 8.1 cents to $0.752.
• The maximum price of heating oil is down five cents per litre to $0.667.
• The minimum price for self-serve diesel is down 5.5 cents per litre to $0.925.

This is the fourth big drop in the price of gas in the last two weeks.

Gas prices peaked this year on Feb 21 at $1.155 per litre. That's a 35 per cent drop in the last month.

The change is even more dramatic if you consider the change in the base price, which has been cut by just over half. Retail and wholesale margins and government charges apart from the HST have not changed. That means the base price currently makes up just 42 per cent ofthe price at the pump

On Feb. 21, the base price made up 58 per cent of the cost.

The overnight price change came from the regular weekly review of prices by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission. IRAC issued unscheduled price changes both this week and last week.

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