For the third week in a row, New Brunswick gas prices are expected to drop.
When the provincial Energy and Utilities Board makes its weekly adjustment, motorists can expect a small decrease of approximately one cent per litre.
Last week, prices dropped almost two cents per litre, falling below the 100 cent per litre threshold to a new maximum of 98.49 cents per litre for regular gasoline.
In other gasoline adjustments, mid-grade fell to 101.88 cents per litre and premium dropped to 105.27 cents per litre.
Since the Aug. 19 adjustment, prices have dropped or stayed level 10 times, while increasing only three times. However, the net difference throughout that time period has only been a decrease of half a cent, as the maximum retail price back in that part of August was 98.94 cents per litre.
By comparison, in 2008 during that same time frame (from August to mid-November), prices dropped over 40 cents per litre to settle at 85 cents per litre.
The highest maximum retail price thus far in 2009 was 103.68 cents per litre in mid-June, while 65.95 cents per litre on Jan. 1 has been the lowest pump price of the year.
Elsewhere, in other regulated regions of Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia's gas prices dropped by over two cents per litre last week and currently sit at a range of between 104.1 and 105.8 cents per litre in the Halifax area, with prices slightly higher outside the city. Nova Scotia's next adjustment is scheduled for Friday.
In Prince Edward Island, the last adjustment came on Nov. 15 and saw prices decrease by 3.5 cents per litre. Including adjustments for taxes, pump prices for unleaded gasoline currently range between 98.9 and 101 cents per litre in that province. The next adjustment is scheduled for Dec. 1.
Yesterday, benchmark crude for December delivery gained to US$79.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That is similar to where oil prices were in October 2008, at which point the maximum retail price of gasoline was over 101 cents per litre.
In other adjustments from last week, diesel fell half a cent to 102.63 cents per litre, furnace oil dropped almost a cent to 84 cents per litre and propane inched up half a cent to 92.66 cents per litre.
The N.B. benchmark rate is based on the average daily price at the N.Y. Harbor division of the N.Y. Mercantile Exchange. All N.B. prices listed here do not include the up to 2.5 cent per litre delivery charge. Heating oil and propane prices listed do not include the up to 10-cent delivery cost.
