As the price of oil continues its precipitous descent, drivers in Metro Vancouver may be wondering why they’re still paying so much at the pump.

But they may not get the discounts they’re hoping for any time soon, according to Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com.

“It’s a little bit like running after the sun as it falls, or a mirage in the desert: The further you run, the further it seems to be elusive,” McTeague said.

He blames a mix of everything from high taxes to issues with U.S. refineries and changing American driving habits for the Lower Mainland’s situation.

Over the last six months, oil prices have fallen from about $80 a barrel to about $50.

Meanwhile, the average price for a litre of gas was $1.247 in Vancouver Wednesday morning, nearly 27 cents higher than the Canadian average of 97.9 cents.

Compare that to a metropolis like Toronto, where prices are as low as 91.9 cents. Even in Montreal, which has higher gas taxes than Vancouver, it is possible to fill the tank for less than $1 a litre.

Since oil prices began plummeting in June, both Montreal and Toronto have seen a general downward trend in prices at the pump. That has not happened in Vancouver, where it’s hard to see any correlation between the costs of oil and gas.

According to McTeague, the heavy taxes on gas in Metro Vancouver help to keep prices higher here, but that doesn’t fully explain things since Montreal’s taxes are even higher. Retailers here also tend to take a margin of 9 cents on every litre, compared to 5 or 6 cents out in the Fraser Valley — but then again, Toronto gas stations have a similar markup.

A big factor is where Metro Vancouver gets its gas. Although we have a small refinery in Burnaby and crude oil and gas flowing in from Edmonton via Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, we depend on refineries in the U.S. for much of our supply.

“There are other parts of the country where they don’t have refineries, but Manitoba, for example, gets it from Alberta by pipeline,” McTeague said.

A power failure earlier this month at one of those crucial refineries, the Tesoro plant in Anacortes, Wash., put a chokehold on that supply, sending wholesale prices upward. Buyers in Metro Vancouver are now paying about 67 cents per litre wholesale, compared to about 55 cents in Montreal, according to McTeague.

And the Vancouver region’s reliance on the U.S. for gas means that our wholesale costs don’t necessarily fall along with oil prices.

“Because the Canadian loonie is pegged to the value of crude, crude’s decline in value has taken the loonie with it, and we price all of our commodities in U.S. terms,” McTeague said.

That means that as the price of crude drags the dollar down with it, Canadians have less and less purchasing power from those American refineries.

And it’s not just the Canadian dollar that’s driving up wholesale costs. Americans have seen a stronger correlation between oil and gas prices, and they’re taking advantage by getting into their cars and driving. Right now, road use is increasing by about three per cent a month in the U.S., according to McTeague.

“Americans are increasing their demand by leaps and bounds …. They’re now taking to the road in the past year in a way we’ve never seen historically,” he said.

“It means that they’re also putting a strain on their own refineries, who in turn are saying to the Canadians, ‘If you want gasoline … here’s our price.’”

He did have some good news for Vancouver, though: gas prices were expected to fall by 1 cent per litre by New Year’s Eve.

blindsay@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/bethanylindsay