The price of gas continues to rise in the Maritimes heading into the Labour Day long weekend. Nova Scotia The minimum price of regular self-serve gasoline in the Halifax area increased by four cents overnight. The new price is 192.5 cents per litre. The price of diesel did not change following Thursday’s adjustment. The minimum price is still 256.2 cents per litre. The price of regular self-serve gasoline in Cape Breton is now 194.5 cents per litre, and diesel remains 258.2 cents per litre. Prince Edward Island The price of regular self-serve gasoline on P.E.I. increased by 5.8 cents to a new minimum price of 204.6 cents per litre. Diesel prices increased by 3.5 cents. The minimum price is now 259.8 cents per litre. New Brunswick The maximum price of regular self-serve gasoline in New Brunswick increased by 4.1 cents to a new price of 194.4 cents per litre. The maximum price for diesel only increased by 0.2 cents. The new maximum price is 254.5 cents per litre. Winter gas season to begin soon Petroleum analyst Dan McTeague says the good news for motorists comes in about a week and a half with the switchover to the winter gas season. He expects prices to come down on Sept. 15. “Hold off until you can until then on the gasoline side, because we’re seeing prices probably moderate by seven, maybe eight cents a litre, and I think this is as high as it’s going to go for gasoline for the next couple of weeks,” he told Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett on Friday. Unfortunately, no real relief for diesel is on the horizon due to an ongoing global shortage. McTeague says prices are likely to continue to rise. “The fact that prices have gone this high for diesel during summer is very alarming and it means that we could see, and I’m not a sensationalist, but three dollars a litre for diesel is certainly not out of the realm of probability,” he said. “That’s why I think the federal government and provincial governments are going to have to think really long and hard about applying an HST to those products.”
