Gas prices in Canada have only begun to rise, according to forecasts from several analysts.
Some market analysts predict that gas prices in Canada will rise by 10 to 15 cents a litre this summer. And this comes on top of the recent jump in prices at the pumps that followed the introduction of the federal carbon tax.
Analysts such as Dan McTeague at GasBuddy say that a combination of higher world oil prices and increases in demand for diesel, plus seasonal factors such as the transition from winter to summer, will conspire to drive the prices Canadians pay to fill up their vehicles with gasoline even higher.
The new federal carbon tax levy of $20/tonne was recently applied in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick and added 4.4 cents per litre to the price of gas at the pumps.
Susan Bell, an oil analyst at IHS Markit, expects gas prices to rise a further 10 cents from now through the end of summer as a gasoline inventory glut in the market starts to ease, and crude oil prices head higher, in part due to demand for diesel fuel.
The price of benchmark U.S. crude oil — West Texas Intermediate (WTI) — has surged 47% since hitting a one-year low in December and is now trading around $62 U.S. a barrel. Meanwhile, the price of Western Canadian Select (WCS) has quadrupled — jumping more than 300% to around $54 U.S. — since it fell to a yearly low last November (2018).
