If you need to fill up your vehicle’s tank, you might want to do it sooner than later.
Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst with gasbuddy.com, has warned that the price of gas will go up by five cents a litre Thursday overnight in Ontario and Quebec and by four cents a litre in Western Canada. In Eastern Canada, the price at the pumps will increase by three cents a litre on Saturday. He said he expects the price increases to continue into the holiday season.
McTeague told CTV News Channel that the increase comes on the heels of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) surprising decision to cut oil production for the first time in eight years on Wednesday. He said the agreement is significant because the world has been seeing an overproduction of oil for the past two years.
OPEC’s decision to reduce daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels a day means that the price of oil will increase. McTeague explained that, whatever the price of oil is internationally, that price will be immediately passed on to motorists.
“What it really means is that for us in North America and us around the world, the days of cheap, discounted oil may very well be coming to an end and with that, lower prices for gasoline,” McTeague said on Thursday.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Canadians however, the higher rate for oil will be beneficial for the country’s oil producers and the Canadian dollar.
“This could be very good news in the long-term for the Canadian economy,” he said.
