Gas war? Langley Esso stations drop prices to $1.05
Two Esso stations in Langley appear to be flush with gas, dropping the price to 105.9 cents per litre.
According to Gas Buddy Vancouver, that’s 14 cents cheaper than the next-closest pump in Metro Vancouver — the one at the Langley Costco — and 35 cents cheaper than the City of Vancouver’s average.
Cheap gas doesn’t go unnoticed anywhere, let alone in commuter-heavy Langley. Shortly after the Essos, at 6036 Glover Rd and 21612 Fraser Highway, started doing their own thing, word began to spread.
By mid-afternoon, a line-up had formed at the Fraser Highway location, causing delays and blocking the rightmost eastbound lane, and based on this tweet from Vancouver’s Kevin Adhika, the Glover Road station is a crowded spot as well.
It only makes sense: gasoline prices have been draining wallets in the Lower Mainland, climbing to historic highs a month ago due to a short supply. In early April, prices were as high as 142.9 cents at dozens of gas stations from Vancouver to Surrey, Coquitlam and Maple Ridge. That’s not far from Vancouver’s gas record: in 2013, gasoline spiked to over 150 cents.
While an employee at the Fraser Highway Esso who declined to give his name said the surprisingly low rates were determined by a standard price survey, done three times a day, it’s clear that these two stations are outliers, and now they may even be on the verge of creating a gas war in the area.
According to one commuter, the Chevron across the street from the Fraser Highway Esso briefly joined the fray.
A Super Save Gas at 20966 56 Ave, directly between the two Esso stations, matched the price in the late afternoon.
An employee who answered the phone at the station said they received a call from their head office telling them to drop its price to 105.9 cents in response.
