Petroleum experts are warning that the skyrocketing price of gas in the Grande Prairie area, and across Canada, isn’t likely to slow down any time soon.
As the average price of a litre of regular gas in the city jumped nearly 15 cents in the last week, GasBuddy.com’s Patrick De Haan says with the situation taking place in Eastern Europe, there likely won’t be any relief at the pump for the foreseeable future.
“The imbalances brought on by COVID-19 have lingered, and that’s much of the reason why prices were higher prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now it’s certainly getting much worse,” he says.
“Moving forward, Canada continues to see record prices, I am hopeful the Canadian average will not reach the $2.000/Litre mark… but the situation may be volatile until we get some kind of clarity on the direction this is going to go.”
De Haan says the continued heavy sanctions being enforced by the United States, Canada, and the European Union has curtailed the flow of oil out of Russia, which has taken oil off the global market, but the demand has remained strong. He says talks between the U.S. government and international oil-producing countries, but as of yet, no progress has been made.
“The U.S has been begging them insistently to do that but they have not buckled in the wave of tremendous pressure from the U.S yet,” he says.
“So the situation may not resolve until Russia pulls out of Ukraine and potentially ceasefire or a peace treaty is signed,” he adds.