Remember this time last month, when the average price across Canada for a litre of gas was just 89 cents?
Hold those fading memories close to your heart, drivers, because gas prices are on the rise again and analysts don't expect them to fall any time soon.
According to price-tracking website Gasbuddy.com, the average price for a litre of regular gasoline in Canada is currently $1.04 – ranging from 90 cents in Manitoba to $1.14 in Quebec.
That's still a long way from the average highs of $1.40 per litre seen this time last year, but gas prices have been creeping up across Canada for weeks, and are expected to continue to rise.
"Motorists should be prepared -- and braced for -- some pretty big increases," says Gasbuddy.com senior petroleum analyst Dan McTeague.
The country has seen a 12-cent price increase over the last month, McTeague says, and he expects prices to rise seven or eight cents more over the next 10 days.
McTeague says there are a host of reasons for the sudden, unexpected jump in prices. They include refinery labour disruptions in the U.S., a weak Canadian dollar, cold weather hampering the shipping of petroleum on frozen waterways, and the recent refinery explosion in California.
"These things have happened almost simultaneously. I know many people will find that highly suspicious, but the fundamentals are there. These are realities," says McTeague.
Even though world oil prices are still falling, McTeague says gas prices are still going up because the cost of crude is just one factor in the price at the pumps.
"It's not helpful to look at oil. We look at oil as only one part of a commodity that makes up gasoline," he said.
He says, even if all the other factors stabilized, it's almost time for refineries to start changing over to summer blend gasolines, which are costlier to produce and thus, more expensive at the pump.
McTeague says there is little chance of a price drop until petroleum refineries do that turnaround and rebuild their inventories.
"The party is over for now," he said.
