Record oil prices push cost of bulk fuel buy

Filling up your gas tank got more expensive this week after Levinia Brown, the community and government services minister, announced pump prices for gasoline will rise 10 cents per litre as of Nov. 1.

Airplane fuel will go up 20 cents per litre. The cost of home heating fuel won't change.

"It is never easy to increase the price of a basic necessity," Brown said in a news release. "We have done everything we can to keep the retail price of fuels low, but the government is not able to avoid the ongoing reality of high world oil prices."

Those oil prices continue to hit all-time highs, with prices reaching above US$86 per barrel. A year ago, crude oil cost around $65 per barrel. Because the government buys oil in bulk, it's stuck with the going rate at the time of purchase. And waiting for the price to drop is risky since it reduces the amount of time available to deliver fuel before freeze-up.

CGS said prices would have increased by 25 cents per litre on all fuel products if the government had passed on the full cost of the increase in oil prices.

While gasoline prices in Nunavut range from $1.20 to $1.29 per litre, pump prices are still cheaper than in Churchill ($1.55 per litre) or Kuujjuaq ($1.53 per litre), according to CGS. Those prices are in line with places like Whitehorse ($1. 26) and Labrador City ($1.21).

The cost of jet fuel in Iqaluit, at $1.20 per litre was significantly cheaper than most northern centres. A litre of jet fuel costs $1.38 in Rankin Inlet and $1.47 in Cambridge Bay.