Numbers confirm prices will rise
Consumers to see an increase in pricing Thursday morning

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, January 6, 2009- Consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador will experience something they haven’t seen in a while, a price increase to most petroleum products. All indicators point to the Public Utilities Board using its interruption formula to adjust prices this Thursday morning.

“All the numbers are in and they’re not good. As of Tuesday’s market close, consumers in the province will likely see an added 5.94 cents on heating and stove oils, 6.8 cents a litre up on gasoline and 8.0 cents a litre up on diesel fuel”, said George Murphy, group researcher with the Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices.

“This is a substantial increase caused by market investors playing with the same factors we saw in the run-up in crude oil prices a few years back. We’ve been told for a long time now, that supply disruption concerns have always had a built-in price factor. We’re also seeing investors doing exactly what caused the world economic problem as well; investing in oil without regard for the damage high oil pricing can cause the world economy. They have literally removed some disposable income from the pockets of consumers everywhere.

“We’re seeing them play with OPEC cuts and making bets that they’ll stick and cause a shortage of crude in the markets while we haven’t seen the rest of the bad economic news. They’ve bet on a drop in supply when they should have been betting on a drop in consumer demand. Here’s hoping the investor loses his bet come February.”

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For more information, contact;

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