Average Canadian could end up paying $1,600 more at the pumps in 2026

Drivers are feeling the pinch as gas prices rise again after another month of conflict. Adrian Ghobrial reports on where Canadians are cutting costs.

TORONTO - Canadians who are feeling prickly at the pump, could be in for a worse mood if gas prices remain elevated.

The average driver across the country could end up paying an additional $1,600 to fill up their tanks in 2026.

CTV News crunched the numbers when factoring in an average size vehicle with a 50-litre gas tank, being filled up once per week.

According to gassbuddy.com, the lowest average gas price in Canada so far this year is 122.0 per litre, over a 12-month period that would run you about $3,172 in gas per year.

The highest national average for gas in Canada currently sits at about 184.0 per litre. If the higher average price was to stick around for an extended period of time, it will cost an average roughly $4,784 a year at the pump.

That’s a difference of $1,612.

The potential increase in cash being coughed up at the pumps could be a modest calculation according to EN-PRO Chief petroleum analyst, Roger McKnight.

“I think its going to get much higher, I say $2 a litre is no longer a possibility, it’s a probability at this stage,” says McKnight.

Some drivers who spoke to CTV National News at a downtown Toronto gas station, say the current increase in cost at the gas station already has them cutting back on other daily expenses.

“My meat consumption has gone down significantly, to make up for the price at the pumps, for my budget there has to be an offset,” says driver Adrian Marshall

Rico Azuceza tells CTV News, “I’m already cutting down on entertainment activities with my family and children due to the fact that the gas prices are already affecting us a lot and I have to drive for work.”

‘$2 is going to be very likely’

The war in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where 20 per cent of the world’s oil normally travels through has sent oil prices skyrocketing.

Even if a deal was reached today to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, experts say it would take at least two months to see any meaningful decrease in the price at the pumps.

One of the few ways to get the cost of crude down is for people to drive less, lowering the demand. Those watching the market say that isn’t likely to happen. McKnight says he believes the current elevated prices could be the new normal for several more months.

“I can see this going right until the end of the year. I’m not kidding. $2 is going to be very likely, and I don’t think that’s the top of it either, Merry Christmas,” says McKnight.