Gas prices to climb another 6 cents/litre

It appears the fall surge many analysts had predicted at the gas pumps is on.

En-Pro International is predicting gasoline prices will rise by 6 cents per litre early Thursday morning.

That will move the average price to just under $1.69/litre at most local stations.

It follows a 10 cent/litre hike on Wednesday. It was one of the biggest single-day jumps the province has seen in the last decade.

The rising gas prices follow a big jump in oil prices on Monday, with OPEC getting ready to cut production by two million barrels a day. Refineries are also seeing a scale back in output with the seasonal switch over to wintertime gasoline blends.

The price of oil has increased $10 a barrel over the last week to $86.

Roger McKnight, chief petroleum analyst at En-Pro International, said that prices could continue to surge if OPEC follows through with cutting production.

“As far as I can see, there is a tightness of supply,” he says. “As it stands right now, it’s really depending on what OPEC does tomorrow.”

In the U.S., President Joe Biden recently warned oil and gas companies against increasing prices for consumers as Hurricane Ian lashed Florida’s southwest coast.

Biden said that the hurricane “provides no excuse for price increases at the pump,” and if it happens, he will ask federal officials to determine “whether price gauging is going on.”

Gasoline prices mostly reflect trends in global oil prices, and crude — both the U.S. benchmark and the international Brent — has been slumping since mid-June on growing fears of a global recession that would reduce demand for energy.

-- With files from Michael Ranger and Mike Eppel