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Denver gas prices hit $4 per gallon with no relief in sight

By Daniel Boniface February 14, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

Denver gas prices hit the $4 per gallon mark on Tuesday and one expert says it could be weeks before drivers see any relief at the pump.

“Denver continues to get out of control,” Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy.com, told The Denver Gazette on Tuesday. “A lot of this continues because of Suncor’s refinery outage.”

The Suncor oil refinery in Commerce City was shut down in late December due to damaged equipment and isn’t expected to be fully operational again until late March. 

Suncor to reopen part of refinery

Meanwhile, the average price of a gallon of gas in Denver is up nearly 80 cents over the last month.

“The increases have slowed,” De Haan said. “But things could be volatile the next couple of weeks.”

The higher gas prices in Denver come at a time when the national average for a gallon of gas has declined 7.3 cents over the last week.

“When that refinery does get back online, you can throw the trend nationally out the window,” De Haan said.

Denver will see immediate relief at the pump when Suncor comes back online, De Haan predicted. But, until then, gas is being brought in from farther away which makes it more expensive, De Haan added. 

Suncor released potentially unhealthy levels of benzene into Sand Creek after December fire

“Be happy this happened at a time when demand is soft,” De Haan said, adding that, if the situation occurred when demand was high, there could have been gas shortages. He added that in 2015, Chicago and other major Midwest cities saw gas prices spike $1.50 per gallon within three days when a major BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana, suffered a shutdown in early August when demand was high.

De Haan said when Suncor comes back online in Commerce City, it could offset the usual price increases Denver consumers see in the spring and summer when demand ticks up.

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