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Trans Mountain fiasco could worsen pain at the pump for all Canadians this summer

Click to play video: 'Bill Morneau avoids question about stopping transfer payments to B.C. over Trans Mountain pipeline'
Bill Morneau avoids question about stopping transfer payments to B.C. over Trans Mountain pipeline
WATCH: Finance Minister Bill Morneau avoids question about stopping transfer payments to B.C. over Trans Mountain pipeline – Apr 11, 2018

Drivers all over North America can expect steeper gas prices this summer compared to last year. But in Canada, the stalemate over the Trans Mountain pipeline could make things worse.

READ MORE: If Canada has a plan to save the Trans Mountain pipeline project, cabinet isn’t saying

American motorists can expect to pay 14 per cent more than last year this summer, according to the latest forecast from the U.S. government. That matters to Canadians because pump prices in this country follow the fluctuations of the wholesale price of gasoline in the U.S., said Roger McKnight, senior petroleum analyst at En-Pro International.

There are a number of factors putting pressure on prices. Saber-rattling between the U.S. and Russia after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened missile strikes in Syria sent oil prices to a three-year high this morning. There’s also OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, where Saudi Arabia is hoping to push the crude price to US$80 a barrel to fund its ambitious social policies. Another factor is the U.S. now shipping more and more oil abroad, which means domestic prices have to rise in order to stay competitive with international markets.

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READ MORE: Gas prices to reach 4-year high in 2018: report

Then there are made-in-Canada irritants. Carbon taxes, a weak loonie and refinery challenges mean “prices are likely to break records not seen at the pumps since the summer of 2014, when oil traded at or above US$100 a barrel,” Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, wrote in a recent analysis.

Now, on top of those long list of woes, one can also add Trans Mountain in Canada, according to McKnight and McTeague.

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WATCH: ‘It will get built,’ Trudeau says of Trans Mountain 

Click to play video: '‘It will get built’: Trudeau defiant in Trans Mountain pipeline construction'
‘It will get built’: Trudeau defiant in Trans Mountain pipeline construction

Not just B.C.: Trans Mountain squabble could affect gas prices across the country

The escalating dispute between Alberta and B.C. over a $7.4-billion expansion of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which carries Alberta crude to the B.C. coast, threatens to drive up Vancouver’s already steep prices.

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B.C.’s Lower Mainland is supplied by the Burnaby Refinery, which is the end point of the Trans Mountain pipeline system.

Prices in the region have recently surged to $1.50 a litre in some locations, partly because of local refinery challenges. But the area also faces a longer-term supply shortage that Trans Mountain would help alleviate, according to Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.

WATCH: The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion debate continues

Click to play video: 'The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion debate continues'
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion debate continues

The pipeline expansion would “see more gasoline delivered to Vancouver from Edmonton, thus forcing prices down and relieving the area from a chronic shortage,” McTeague wrote in a recent analysis of market conditions.

Instead, Alberta’s New Democrat government served notice on Tuesday of plans to introduce legislation that Premier Rachel Notley has said will give the province the power to reduce oil flows and likely cause gas prices in B.C. to rise even higher.

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READ MORE: B.C. premier ‘surprised and concerned’ at Alberta’s move to throttle oil flow

The pipeline quarrel among B.C., Alberta and the federal government heated up last weekend when Kinder Morgan Canada announced it was suspending work on the pipeline upgrade because of opposition in B.C.

READ MORE: B.C. premier ‘surprised and concerned’ at Alberta’s move to throttle oil flow

The regional impact on gas prices of the delays and political squabbles is “huge,” McKnight said. But its ripple effects could reach far beyond B.C., he added.

READ MORE: Thousands of Calgary protesters loudly demand B.C. stop blocking Trans Mountain pipeline project

The stalemate is going to put further pressure on the Canadian dollar, which could sink as low at 70 cents per U.S. dollar, he predicted. The loonie was trading at 80 cents on the U.S. dollar on Wednesday at 12.30 p.m. Eastern.

Since oil is traded in U.S. dollars, “if you have a 70-cent loonie, then a US$100 a barrel of crude becomes $130 to the Canadian consumer,” McKnight said.

– With files from the Canadian Press

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