Gas prices won't be record breaking, but they will be high this summer

The price of gas is heading upward and it's expected to remain high through the summer, thanks to a number of market forces.

Many drivers fuelling up in Calgary on Tuesday may have seen prices of up to $1.40 per litre for regular gas and, while that's off from the record highs from a year ago, it's still a tough cost for many people to manage.

According to Gas Buddy, the price per litre of regular gas was about $1.66 on March 28, 2022, but that jumped to nearly $1.85 in June 2022.

Industry analysts tell CTV News that part of the reason for this most recent increase is a routine change in what type of gas is supplied to North Americans from U.S. refineries.

Around now, companies shift from a 'winter fuel' mix to a summer type – a gas that typically costs about five cents more per litre.

However, there are other factors to consider, such as the U.S. banking crisis that caused prices to jump by 20 cents in one day.

The federal government is also set to increase its carbon tax on April 1, a move that will increase gas prices even further.

"The other shoe to drop – and there are two of them – will be on April Fools' Day (when) the federal carbon tax increases to 3.5 cents a litre," said Gaswizard.ca's Dan McTeague.

"So many stations, if nothing changes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – if there's no change in the market, we're still going to get about three and a half to four cents increase – about $1.44 or $1.45 by Saturday."

The other policy will come into effect on July 1, where federal rules will require companies to produce a more eco-friendly product. Those higher costs will also be passed onto customers, McTeague says.

Other factors to consider are a weaker Canadian dollar, which usually increases the price of fuel even before drivers can use it.

(With files from Stephanie Thomas)