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British Columbians get burned with high gas prices from lack of refineries and storage

Last week, Canadians for Affordable Energy’s petroleum expert Dan McTeague told Global News that problems in Washington State and other parts of the United States were contributing to the surge in gas prices.

“Extraordinarily tight supply on the U.S. west coast made worse by about a week ago the Phillips 66 Ferndale Washington refinery went down for maintenance,” said McTeague.

“This is something a lot of refineries across the U.S. have held off doing, particularly given the strong demand this summer.”

Some people have surrendered their freedom of mobility to the government by selling their cars, according to an email to the Vancouver Sun by Evo car spokesperson. According to BCAA’s Evo car share program they see a rise in users when gas prices are high. User sign-ups are up, the number of trips people take are up, and the length of trips has gone up.

Most people already know the tips for trying to save fuel on consumption and price at the pump like top up the tank when gas prices are lower, keeping tires properly inflate to reduce friction on the road, and setting up notifications in gas apps like gasbuddy for when the price reaches a set amount you want just like notifications in currency trading apps.

BC Rise reported at the beginning of March, Vijay Muralidharan, senior consultant at energy analytics firm Kalibrate said there is a supply production and storage issue “Refineries are already scrambling to produce gasoline and diesel,” said Muralidharan

The B.C. government is trying to pin all the blame on the oil and gas industries. According to the Terrace Standard after the last gas price inquiry John Horgan acknowledged it’s a supply and storage issue. The Trans Mountain Pipeline alone is not enough to get product to the global market and supply B.C. at the same time.

“It’s not just about supply, although we need more gasoline,” Horgan said. “We need less diluted bitumen. That won’t move your automobile, but gasoline will, and we only have the one refinery in Burnaby.”

British Columbians were hit with high gas prices in November 2021 after a major rain storm and flooding in the province causing the flow of gasoline to B.C.’s lower mainland from the Trans Mountain Pipeline to be shut off.

When prices began to soar this year, John Horgan didn’t really much care because it doesn’t effect him with the raises he and his government got throughout the pandemic and told British Columbians to ‘think Before You Hop In The Car’ and possibly beg a neighbor or someone else for a ride.

But the question still stands, why is the provincial government not looking in to building more refineries or storage places?

The gasoline shortages for British Columbia are common and a on-going issue that never gets addressed and British Columbians are just get stuck paying the highest prices.

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Jordan
Jordan
Jordan is a casual reporter for BC Rise
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