Summer driving season and rising crude help hike Calgary gas prices

As the summer holidays gear upso do prices at the gas pump, with some Calgary gas stations topping $1.40on Thursday.

Vijay Muralidharan, with retail fuel and convenience consultancy Kalibrate Global,says much of the price hikeis tied to crude oil prices.

He says there has beena 30 per cent increase in oil prices since the end of last year.

"In a sense, for every one dollar change in crude pricing, the gasoline price goes up by 0.55cents, which tells us there's a strong relationship, and the biggest driver for this is crude pricing," he said.

Gasoline prices arealso affected bythe fact that refinery margins tend to go up, historically, during summer driving season, said the consultant.

OPEC deal

Muralidharansays that there's been a lot of volatility in the market asthe oil-producing nationsofOPEC, plus Russia, decidehow much to increase crude output over the coming months.

On Wednesday,Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reached a dealthat should unlock more supply to a tight oil market and help cool soaring prices.

"We are at the mercy of what OPEC+ is going to do so We think that they have an agreement in place and we think that they're going to unwind supply in a measured way, meaning that they want to keep stable prices as well," saidMuralidharan.

He says he expects to see around $70 per barrel of crude,which could keep gas prices at current levels until the end of summer.

"You're going to see all these things flow through to Augustand, after that, in the fallwhen supply of crude comes in, when driving season slowly ends, you will see some respite."