Hurricane Harvey forces gas prices to skyrocket across New Brunswick
New Brunswick sees largest increase in gas prices in 9 years
It's official: New Brunswick gas prices haven't been this high in almost a decade — jumping by 13.1 cents a litre on Thursday.
The maximum price of regular self-serve is sitting at $1.26/litre. This is the biggest increase in gas prices the province has seen in nine years.
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The Thursday rise is a delayed reaction to Hurricane Harvey, which caused turmoil in petroleum markets and rising street prices across much of eastern North America all last week.
Some gas stations across the province were extra busy Wednesday as consumers made sure to fill up before a predicted increase of 14 cents a litre went into effect at midnight.
There were lineups at some stations, including the Fredericton Costco, where employees were directing traffic as vehicles lined up to fill their tanks.
The wholesale prices of gasoline jumped 14 cents per litre last week as Harvey slammed Texas oil refineries and petroleum traders in New York bid prices up rapidly.
The last major one-day price increase on gasoline in New Brunswick was 12.8 cents on Sept. 13, 2008. That was triggered by another hurricane Ike, which hit Texas. But the increase lasted less than a week.
Robert Jones