TORONTO – Russia’s attack on Ukraine is putting even greater pressure on an already surging oil price environment and that will cost Canadians more at the pump.
Roger McKnight, chief petroleum analyst at En-Pro International Inc. expects gas prices across the country will rise five cents per litre on Saturday.
He says drivers who fill up occasionally have hours to avoid extra costs but there’s not much that can be done for those who fill up daily.
The high demand for oil combined with a shortage of supply have been pushing oil prices, and consequently, gas prices up for weeks.
The benchmark West Texas Intermediate price is sitting at US$96 per barrel after briefly trading above US$100 per barrel this morning. Brent Crude has fallen slightly to US$103 a barrel, after topping US$105 a barrel earlier — the first time since 2014.
Even if U.S. President Joe Biden attempts to intervene to calm oil prices the situation could get worse, according to McKnight.
“OPEC+ is really Saudi Arabia and Russia together and if President Biden puts pressure on Saudi Arabia to get more crude into the system to lower prices, that’s just going to upset Russia even further and they may even shut down supply completely,” McKnight says.