With oil prices hovering around $108 per barrel on Thursday, many gas price gurus are predicting unprecedented pain at the pumps as the driving season ramps up this spring.
"By the end of April you're going to see the highest gasoline prices you have ever seen in your life,” En-Pro senior petroleum analyst Roger McKnight told 680 News. “I'm calling for a Toronto price between $1.43 and $1.47 a litre. That represents a 12 to 15 per cent increase from the pump price you see today."
Jason Toews of Gasbuddy.com told the Toronto Star he predicts an even larger jump in gas prices, calling for $1.50- to $1.55-a-litre gas by April.
The average price of gas in Canada has been creeping steadily upward since the start of the year, rising from $1.17 at the end of December to more than $1.25 this week.
Gas prices tend to fluctuate by season. February traditionally tends to be a period of lower gas prices, while springtime sees large jumps in demand and therefore prices.
With prices already at the $1.25 mark, many gas market watchers fear a record-setting spring.
NO NEED FOR HYSTERIA
But other market watchers say the panic over pump prices amounts to little more than hysteria.
Dan McTeague, a former Liberal MP and founder of the website Tomorrow’s Gas Price Today, told the CBC he thinks it’s “unlikely these prices will be sustained.”
McTeague predicts a cooling off of gas prices, and says the only thing that could drive a massive jump would be a military conflict with Iran, which could cause severe increases in oil and gas prices if there are supply shortages in the Middle East, or if energy speculators panic.
NOT JUST IN CANADA
The U.S. is also seeing large gas price jumps, with the average recently hitting $3.58 U.S. per gallon and some stations charging as much as $5 per gallon.
This despite the fact that analysts say demand for oil and gas in the U.S. “has been muted for some time.”
The issue has spilled over into the U.S. presidential race, with Republicans this week attacking President Barack Obama for energy policies -- including the temporary rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline -- that they say contributed to the high prices.
In a sign the issue is taking hold, Obama went on the offensive Wednesday.
"It’s the easiest thing in the world make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices," Obama told a University of Miami crowd.
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