Fuel prices along the coast of Labrador have dropped sharply, as tankers return to the area.
Prices on the north and south coast are frozen annually after the last delivery of the season, and don’t change again until the ice thins and ships are once again able to reach communities there.
On Thursday, that led the province’s Public Utilities Board to drop the maximum price of gas by 20.7 cents per litre. Diesel is down by 34.5 cents per litre, stove oil is down 28.33 cents per litre.
Propane, though, is up by 5.1 cents per litre.
The move comes just a few weeks after a major price drop in central and southern Labrador.
As fuel consumption plunged under the pandemic, fuel prices in Newfoundland and Labrador tumbled as well.
But in April, two fuel providers — Woodward’s and Normore’s — asked the Public Utilities Board to hike prices, because they buy in bulk and couldn’t restock until September.
The steep price drop would have caused significant losses to the providers, or forced them to turn off the pumps.
That price hike ended in May, causing prices to drop significantly.
Meanwhile most fuel prices in the rest of Labrador — and the rest of the province — rose Thursday, with gas up by three cents, diesel by 4.1 cents and 2.8 cents in Newfoundland and western Newfoundland respectively, furnace oil by 3.53 cents and stove oil by 3.53 cents. Propane is down by 0.7 cents.