Gas prices in Ontario are expected to jump by 11 cents over the next two days.
That’s according to Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.
In an email to Global News, McTeague said gas prices are expected to rise in much of the province by six cents on Thursday, and another five cents on Friday.
He said this will push gas prices up from 162.9 cents per litre on Wednesday to 173.9 cents per litre by Friday.
According to McTeague, the price increase will be seen in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Kitchener, Barrie, Windsor and Niagara.
“And there’s no telling where that will stop there, simply because refiners have not passed on yet,” he told Global News. “The use of the summer blends of gasoline that comes with a fairly high price tag of about another seven cents a liter. So we could very well see $1.80 in the not too distant future at many of the pumps here in Toronto and across the province.”
Asked whether gas prices could hit $2 a litre in the near future, McTeague said it “wouldn’t be very hard to get there.”
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“The federal government’s carbon tax has kicked in, we’ll be switching over from winter to summer gasoline,” he said. “It would just simply require going back to about $115 to $120 a barrel for prices to hit $2 a litre. And I think that’s more than likely.”
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He said it prices are more likely to increase, than decrease.
“And so for that reason, I think it’s pretty clear that we have a circumstance where prices in Canada are going to continue to escalate.”
He said summer is going to be “very expensive,” adding that prices reaching $2 a litre is “more than likely here in Toronto.”
McTeague said now is the time to fill your tanks.
“And of course, watch your budgets this summer because this is not going to get any better,” he said.
Prices are also expected to rise to 175.9 cents per litre for Montreal, McTeague said.
According to GasWizard.ca, diesel prices are also expected to rise by seven cents on Thursday, pushing prices to 187.9 cents per litre in Toronto.
McTeague said gas prices had dropped over concerns that there would be another COVID-19 related lockdown in China that could cause less demand.
He said there were also concerns that the U.S.’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be “unleashed.”
“All of those things happened and have not been impacting the market,” he said. “The market’s saying there’s a real fundamental problem here — the shortage of oil and even mores for gasoline. So get ready.”
What’s more, McTeague said gas prices always increase in the summer, “like it or not.”
“That’s why I think prices are going to remain very high, and $2 a litre wouldn’t be anything extraordinary.”
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