“You will virtually never see us lead the price down or up,” Schroeder says.
Fas Gas Oil also owns Race Trac Fuels. Schroeder says that those stations have the freedom to set their own price on gasoline. In Smith, Race Trac gas is sold at Pumps on Main. Spokesperson Pat Jolliffe indicates that setting prices is not as cut and dried as head office implies.
“We don’t get as good a price as they do in Edmonton,” says Jolliffe. “Because we’re in a different area, our (bulk) price is based on Slave Lake. We’re sort of caught in the middle. We try to stay competitive (Pumps on Main almost always sells fuel one cent a litre cheaper than Slave Lake) and make a small profit, but we don’t make enough on our gas to pay the wages of the person working in the store.”
At least Fred Flintstone never had to worry about the price of gas. Trying to get to the bottom of why gas prices are higher in Slave Lake than they are in Edmonton, or Westlock, or even Athabasca, is maddening.
On the morning of Thursday, Dec 1, the pump price at an Esso station in Fort Saskatchewan was 74.9 per litre. One Superstore gas bar in Sherwood Park was actually selling gas for less than 68 cents after factoring in grocery coupons. Prices at many pumps in Edmonton had crept up several cents through the week even though the wholesale cost had dropped by over three cents per litre. Esso, and all pumps in Slave Lake, stubbornly remained at 88.9 for the same period.
With retailers pulling seemingly arbitrary numbers from their hat, Canada’s big oil companies offer explanations that don’t appear to make complete sense. Pius Rolheiser, spokesperson for Imperial Oil (Esso), reports that mitigating circumstances often result in wildly fluctuating prices from one community to the next.
“The single most important factor when considering the pump price of gasoline is the amount of local competition and the number of litres sold,” says Rolheiser. “Obviously, stations that sell more gas can afford to sell it for less. Communities like Athabasca may sell more fuel than Slave Lake.
“It should be noted that Esso does not set the price for its retail outlets. Local retailers do that and set it so they can make an acceptable level of profit. Alberta competition laws prohibits Esso from determining pump prices.”
Mr. Rolheiser said that being further from the refineries, in this case, Edmonton, adds to the cost of shipping gasoline to Slave Lake. When asked why, then, are gas prices lower in Peace River than they are here, he went back to the number of litres sold. He admits the system is not perfect and claims to understand the frustration of consumers.
“Nobody buys gasoline because they want to,” says Rolheiser, “They buy it because they have to. For many people, gasoline is a necessity of life.”
John Schroeder is the vice president of Fas Gas Oil. He admits that his company does set the pump prices for Fas Gas but only to match the leading retailer.
“Fas Gas brand of fuel is controlled from head office,” says Schroeder. “We are the marketer on site. The individual owner/operator runs the in-store aspect but we set the price of fuel. Our pricing policy is to match the lowest price in town.

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