The price of gasoline and diesel fuel is about to drop in Nunavut, but officials say the decrease could have been greater if not for overwhelming deficits in the territorial government's Petroleum Products Division.

On January 1, the before-tax cost of gas will drop by 10 cents per litre across the territory, a drop caused by the decline in commodity prices worldwide. Though the decrease will make a difference at the pumps in Nunavut — gas prices in Iqaluit currently sit at $1.399 per litre — its relatively small size has some Nunavummiut frustrated.

"I saw it as low as 87 cents in Ottawa," said Lorraine Hébert, co-owner of Iqaluit restaurant The Snack, which offers delivery. "I can understand, I mean they have to bring it all the way [here], but help us out. The [cost of] electricity is so high. Everything is so high."

Ford Widrig, the comptroller at the Government of Nunavut's Petroleum Products Division, says that he would have personally liked to have seen a larger price decrease. However, "the issue right now is the Petroleum Products Division has an accumulated deficit which it needs to essentially balance," he said.

According to Widrig, the Petroleum Products Division is expected to be able to operate with a budget that does not exceed plus or minus $10 million. At the moment, its deficit stands at $10 million.

"We are at a point now where we are at our greatest possible deficit," he said. "We have to start clearing that out. There is no other option."

If the projected global oil prices stay stable, Widrig says that the division should be able to eliminate its deficit by the end of the 2016/2017 fiscal year.