Gasoline prices in Edmonton reached record levels this weekend, and experts see them headed only one way from the current level of about $1.30 per litre: Up, up, up.
Prices of 1.45 to 1.50 per litre in the weeks ahead are expected thanks to crude oil prices, which have surged close to $135 per barrel, says Catherine Hay, a senior adviser with MJ Ervin & Associates, a company that tracks gas prices.
“It’s not likely to stay at that level, but it’s certainly conceivable that it could spike up that high in the next coming weeks,” she said.
“It could happen before the long weekend. It depends on when refineries switch from winter production to summer gasoline production.”
Most pump prices have hovered around $1.28 a litre in Edmonton since Friday, but with the large jump in crude oil prices, along with the normal summer demand for fuel, Hay predicts to see a 10 to 15 per cent rise.
The Bank of Nova Scotia suggested last week that Canadians should get used to the record-high oil prices as it predicted the trend will be around for the next 10 years.
The bank predicts the price of crude will reach $140 a barrel later this year, hovering around that mark in 2009.
–jeff.cummings@metronews.ca
