No relief at the pumps
Consumers will see price at the pumps exceed $1.42 a litre

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, June 3, 2008 - Consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador will see an increase at the pumps this coming Thursday morning when the Public Utilities Board adjusts prices.

“Consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador will experience prices that were higher on only one other occasion; during the Hurricane Katrina and Rita incidents when the markets faced a huge supply disruption. Trouble consumers should have with this is that we have just entered into the start of the hurricane season and markets are already trading on the potential for further disruptions in supply”, said George Murphy, group researcher ad member of the Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices.

“Consumers will see an added 3.8 cents a litre on gasoline and we’re still looking at heating and stove oils to take an upwards move by close to 2.4 cents a litre. That number may also be pointing the way to a possible increase in diesel as well. Those numbers are based on twelve days of data out of a possible fourteen days available as of release time. An increase to heating and stove oils will mean a new price record for consumers with almost $1.22 charged by some companies in the St. John’s and immediate area.

“Well, here we go again! We are looking at Newfoundland and Labradorians and other Canadians being screwed by traders that are trading on events that have yet to happen. We haven’t seen any disruption in Canadian refiner capacity or supply because of hurricanes, yet we get to pay the lump for speculators and production disruptions thousands of miles away. When are the country and our politicians going to learn to start to protect Canadians from market speculators? Why is there no talk of new trading laws that prevent such speculation? Where is the system of national reporting of available inventory, the security of supply and production data that should be made available to all Canadians? Why hasn’t government looked at the possibility of setting up a new trading bourse in Canada where oil could be traded based on the Canadian condition?

“Ask yourself ‘why not’ when you hear that Venezuelans are paying twelve cents a US gallon for gasoline. Why should Canadians be made to pay the piper for gasoline, heating and stove oils or choose between heat or food this coming winter?

“We’re seeing the ‘same old-same old’ in the markets again the past two weeks; Concerns for supply from places like Nigeria and the Middle East, concerns over available summer gasoline supply and demand factors all remain. A draw-down in crude supply last week also came as a surprise to some speculators but oil still dropped when it was also announced last week that there was an ongoing investigation into trading of oil on the futures markets.

“It may now be June month and we have very little time left before we see the markets start trading on the August buying contract. A lot has to happen to heating and stove oils before we see any drop in pricing there but, so far this summer, fall heating and stove oil pricing are only pointing one way; up.”

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For more information, contact;

George Murphy
Group researcher/Member
Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices
gasprices@hotmail.com