Future of oil prices unclear
Posted Aug 2, 2015 10:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
What’s the future of the price of oil with the summer driving season coming to an end in about five weeks?
West Texas Intermediate closed Friday at $47.12 U.S. a barrel, after tumbling $1.40 on the day.
Gasbuddy.com’s Dan McTeague told 660 NEWS, we could be in for more turbulence in the fall. He noted there’s still plenty of oil on the market especially with shipments coming back on-line from Cenovus and CNQ after their oilsands operations were shuttered by wildfires a few weeks ago.
“That will only flood the U.S. West Texas Intermediate market and that will probably depress prices even further,” McTeague said. “We know, a lot of heavy oil in Canada is being discounted at least $15 below that $48 we’re seeing today, so not a great time to be in the business. Will it get worse? Hard to say.”
McTeague added Canadian consumers won’t necessarily be beneficiaries because our dollar is tied so closely to the price of oil. As oil goes down, it takes the loonie with it — and the consumer is left on the hook for the difference.
McTeague said the real industry winners right now are refiners which are netting about 25 cents a litre on gasoline, after costs.
