Surging gas prices reach all-time high in Calgary

It's not the news drivers were hoping for as the May long weekend approaches.

The cost of fuel is on the rise in Calgary and across Canada, despite the price of crude oil declining since March.

The average fuel price in the city as of Friday morning was 169.1 cents per litre, according to GasBuddy.com.

That's still roughly 20 cents cheaper per litre than the national average due in part to the province's decision to temporarily lift the provincial gas tax back in April.

At this time last year, gas in Calgary was about 45 cents cheaper per litre.

"We're heading into the summer driving season. The economies of the world are starting to pick up post-COVID," said Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, on CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday. "We had a shortage of oil and gasoline and diesel to a large extent prior to the invasion of Russia on Ukraine."

Several U.S. refineries have also closed for maintenance and, despite the high price of crude, the Canadian dollar still lags behind the U.S. dollar.

"All these things — combined with higher taxes, carbon taxes — tend to add up to what is going to be the perfect storm for a lot of consumers this summer," explained McTeague.

Vijay Muralidharan, director of consulting at energy analytics firm Kalibrate, says he expects gas prices to peak by late June and drop slightly through the rest of the summer.

"Who knows, if the driving season is strong, it might go strong until the end of August. But we think there will be a slight reprieve in July and August," he told CTV News Ottawa.

Rising diesel prices are also impacting the price of everyday goods as transportation costs more than ever before.

"It doesn't matter where you are or what you buy. We're going to see an inflationary impact the likes of which we've never experienced in our generation," McTeague said.

With files from CTV News Ottawa and CTV News' Tom Yun