With gas prices set to continue skyrocket as war in Ukraine roils oil and natural gas markets, more Burnaby residents are reporting thieves siphoning the fuel tanks on their vehicles.
A Metrotown resident contacted the NOW to say that she encountered a “threatening” gas thief while she was out late Friday night. The woman said her dog was whining about needing to go pee and so she got dressed and took the pup for a walk around midnight.
“I left out the backdoor and the motion sensor on the light in my backyard flashed on and I heard some rustling,” said the resident, who didn’t want her name published. “That’s when I saw a man standing next to my car with a hose and a jerry can … I yelled and he took a step towards me and looked very threatening but then he ran off.”
The woman said she checked her fuel gauge and that the thief didn’t appear to have been successful, but that her neighbours weren’t so lucky.
“I’m going to go and buy a locking gas cap,” the woman said.
Gas is like gold right now with prices hitting more than $1.81 a litre in some parts of Metro Vancouver.
Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, predicts gasoline prices generally will go up 8 cents per litre in Canada, as a result of spiking oil prices.
Benchmark Brent crude shot up by about US$5 per barrel earlier this week to around US$95 per barrel, on the announcement that Germany was cancelling its agreement with Russia on the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.
On Thursday, following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, Brent crude prices have shot above the US$100 per barrel mark for the first time since 2014, dragging all other energy prices up with it, and global equities down.
Western Canadian Select is at US$78 per barrel today, according to oilp[rice.com – roughly a US$30 per barrel increase since the US$45 per barrel low at the end of November - and North American natural gas prices are approaching US$5 per MMBTu – double what they were one year ago.
All of which means gasoline prices are going up, which will continue to fuel inflation.
Russia is an energy powerhouse. It is the world’s third largest oil producer, second largest natural gas producer and supplies Germany with much of its thermal coal. As such, Western sanctions against Russia could have serious impacts on global energy markets.
- With additional reporting by Nelson Bennett, Business in Vancouver
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
