CALGARY – The price of crude oil fell sharply on Wednesday after the U.S., Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, but the drop is not being reflected at gas station pumps — yet.
West Texas Intermediate crude is trading nearly 18 per cent lower than it was a day earlier at about US$95 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the average Canadian price for a litre of regular unleaded gas was actually almost two cents higher than it was on Tuesday at about $1.85 per litre, according to Gasbuddy.com, which crowdsources price data from stations across the U.S. and Canada.
“Think of it like a jet coming in for a landing on the runway or a ship that is still moving forward,” said Gasbuddy petroleum analyst Matt McClain.
“There’s some forward momentum in the overall petroleum system that has to basically unwind fairly quickly.”
Retailers would have purchased the crude sitting in their tanks at a much higher cost and it would be counterproductive for them to sell it at a loss, said McClain.
“The overall system really isn’t totally set up in a way to easily handle extreme fluctuations in pricing because we don’t normally have that on a day-to-day basis.”
McClain said fuel prices should start to ease by the weekend, and a week from now they might be five to six cents a litre cheaper. An additional drop of seven to eight cents per litre could come a week after that — provided the ceasefire holds, McClain said.
The pause in fighting was already showing signs of fraying on Wednesday. Drones and missiles hit Iran and Arab countries in the Gulf, while Israel intensified its attacks on Lebanon.
In recent weeks, the war led Iran to mostly close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting Persian Gulf oil to the open sea. In normal times, about one-fifth of the globe’s total oil shipments moves on tankers through the passage.
Much of the ceasefire agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different versions of the terms.
Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the strait, which the White House later said U.S. President Donald Trump opposes.
— with files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.
