Portage la Prairie pumps saw another decrease as gas prices dipped to 152.9 cents/litre at most stations Monday. That's a five cent drop from the weekend, and one expert says more drops could be on the way before the end of the year.

Patrick De Haan is the Head Petroleum Analyst at GasBuddy.com says oil prices had fallen last week to as low as $74 per barrel and that paved the way for declines in gasoline and diesel prices.

"For now, at least, oil prices are still struggling a bit. Now, they have retaken $80.00 a barrel on optimism that China is going to ease its 'COVID zero' policies which will open various cities up and boost consumption," says De Haan. "At the same time, over the weekend, OPEC Plus reiterated its production cuts and extended them through at least December, and so that is providing a little bit of optimism here, oil prices trading up."

De Haan adds gas prices have a little bit of a ways to decline as margins have been relatively good and stations could go a little bit lower.

He says gas prices could moderate another ten to twenty cents per litre by the end of the year if things continue to go well. He will continue to watch other regions, not just China, adding Europe could have an impact.

"Combined with the fact that the EU's price cap on Russian oil has just kicked in over the weekend, and Russia has promised some sort of retribution, potentially halting exports, there's a lot of moving parts with this entire situation," says De Haan. "We will have to see how this all shakes out. It's certainly possible that it's only a matter of time before prices do start to rebound, but, I think for now, we have another week or two, maybe, of prices gently declining."

With regards to diesel fuel, there is not as much relief to consumers, but De Haan notes more and more stations are lowering prices below $2/litre.

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