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New Brunswickers were annoyed this week when they saw their gas prices hiked as oil markets and unregulated pump prices elsewhere sunk, but that frustration may have been stoked today by news that regulated prices in Nova Scotia dropped overnight.

Energy Minister Jack Keir said he is aware of the frustration, but he said it's aimed specifically at generally high gas prices rather than the province's particular gas regulation formula.

"I am frustrated with the price of gasoline. Everyone is frustrated by the price of gasoline, but I don't think folks are frustrated by the regulated price of gasoline," Keir said Thursday.

Keir said he has no intention of reviewing how the province's regulated price is calculated. However, he did admit that the structure of the formula, which is slightly different from the formula used in Nova Scotia, is a part of the reason New Brunswickers are now paying more when drivers elsewhere are paying less.

Industry representatives have blamed the price hike on a spike in refined market prices last Friday at New York Harbor.

That spike's effect on prices here was amplified by New Brunswick's use of a formula that triples the impact of Friday's market prices on the regulated price.

"It did spike on Friday and we use Friday's prices for Saturday and Sunday to get a seven day average," said Keir.

"You can't pick and chose ..."

Keir said tinkering with the formula will not achieve long-term results for consumers, however Nova Scotia did choose a slightly different way to calculate its prices.

While New Brunswick works out a seven-day average based on five days of prices by substituting Friday's price for Saturday and Sunday, Nova Scotia simply works out a five-day average based on five days of prices, which means each day's price at New York Harbor is weighted evenly.

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That difference and the fact that Nova Scotia calculates its prices a day later than New Brunswick can explain the differences between price fluctuations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

While Keir said that New Brunswickers enjoy the lowest gasoline prices in Atlantic Canada, even after the drop of prices in Nova Scotia, he was quick to add that regulation is not a tool designed to lower gas prices.

"When you say Nova Scotia is going down, good for them, I hope that's the case. For us, we will then be cheaper again next Thursday, guaranteed because we cut gasoline taxes by 4.3 cents the first day in office," he said.

"That's why we have the cheapest prices in Atlantic Canada. Not because of regulation, but because we cut the gas prices."

Michael Ervin, of the Calgary-based energy consultants firm MJ Ervin and Associates, predicts crude oil prices will continue to fall over the next six months.

But he says the benefit to New Brunswick drivers will lag behind jurisdictions that do not regulate prices.

"Consumers in New Brunswick are going to lag behind consumers in other markets in terms of seeing the benefit of those lower prices," he said, noting his assessment depends on whether volatile crude prices fall.

"It might work to the benefit of consumers when prices are on the rise, but consumers in areas like New Brunswick will see their prices fall after non-regulated markets fall."

Keir said that the differences between New Brunswick's gas regulation formula, and the system employed in Nova Scotia, work themselves out over time because they are both market-driven.

"Overall, at the end of the end of this, nobody loses in this. It may be delayed but nobody loses."

Keir says he has no intention of tinkering with the changes that the Liberal government made to gas regulation, such as cutting by half the period drivers and retailers must wait to see a price change.

"We looked at it, and changed it. I think if you talk to most folks they will agree that regulation is doing exactly what it was geared towards doing, and that is stabilizing a price over a seven-day period."

Ervin says he is not surprised that New Brunswick drivers aren't seeing the benefits as quickly as other jurisdictions.

"Any regulatory system that sets a price cap based on past prices is going to be a detriment to consumers when prices are falling," he said.

"Any kind of regulated system that adopts a standard frequency of price changes is going to create a delay in passing lower prices on to consumers, relative to what non-regulated markets will do."