Gas price leaps up, heating oil and diesel tumble

A wild couple of weeks for petroleum product prices on P.E.I. continued on Friday.

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission adjusted prices in its regular weekly review.

The minimum price of a litre of self-serve gasoline rose 9.2 cents overnight to $1.942.

Diesel and heating oil prices, which both leaped up more than 30 cents in the last week of April, were down.

The minimum price at the pump for diesel was down eight cents to $2.535, while the maximum price for heating oil was down 7.3 cents to $2.072.

Both prices remain higher than they were a week ago.

While reviews are scheduled weekly, prices were up on Thursday and Saturday in addition to Friday last week.

The big increases last week ended a month of relative calm in prices, following a roller coaster of price changes in March. World oil prices have been volatile since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February.

While higher world oil prices have been a factor, a CBC analysis this week showed higher profits for refiners are playing a larger role.