Gas prices are going up, and we may be waiting a while for an Alberta reprieve

The cost to fuel up in Calgary is set to climb this week, and there are signs prices could stay high well into the autumn. 

Many retailers prepped for a weekend bump Thursday by increasing prices to $1.49/litre. They'll likely go two cents higher than that Friday, resulting in a nickel bump from earlier in the week. 

But experts say five cents now isn't the problem: it's something unusual that's on the horizon. As summer winds down, fuel prices typically do too, along with demand. In 2023, that doesn't look to be the case. 

"(A price of) $1.50 to $1.55 is the number we could see in Calgary and throughout Alberta for the foreseeable future," Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy said.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see, as we head towards September, rather than prices dropping, we may not get that benefit at all."

That late autumn and winter reprieve is helped along by a change in the gasoline blend. But other factors could offset that and keep prices steady well into October. 

"This is not so much a gasoline issue as it is an oil issue," McTeague said. "We are seeing oil recover from what has been several months of lower than expected value."

Add in a weak Canadian dollar, and driver optimism may be hard to find. 

"(That puts on) another 27 cents a litre to price of gasoline," McTeague said. 

It's not just in Alberta. 

Prices next door in British Columbia are expected to eclipse $2.10 very soon, and Ontario has also seen a recent spike, potentially reaching a nine-month high by Friday.