Driving through the streets of Montreal on Friday, motorists were shocked to see the price of gas reach 186.9/L in some neighborhoods. As the war rages on in Ukraine there is no indication the sticker shock will go away soon.
The rise in gas prices is being felt across Canada and around the globe, with the price at the pump breaking an all-time high of $2/L in Metro Vancouver on Friday.
Quebec reported the third-highest provincial average cost of gas (177.4/L) after Newfoundland and Labrador (181.9/L) and British Columbia (186.4/L) on Friday, according to the Canadian Automobile Association.
The Russian invasion into Ukraine last week is partly to blame for driving up these costs on a global level as tanker companies are shunning Russian crude oil and economic sanctions are disrupting exports from Russian, which produces about 10 million barrels of oil a day.
Even though Canada imports very little Russian crude, this means Canada and other countries are competing harder for a share of the oil on the world market, explained Jean-Thomas Bernard, a visiting professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa.
“Right now, we have basically a supply problem,” Bernard told CTV News on Friday.
“Russia wants to produce because they need the money to conduct the war. So they need the money, but the constraints that are imposed by other countries may lead to a drop in the supply of oil.”
He added that the war in Ukraine comes at a time when demand for oil is returning to the same level before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
It’s difficult for Bernard and other analysts to predict how much higher it will go, but one thing that is for sure is that it will keep rising.
“If we see that this fight gets much more [intense] than it is now and if the other countries impose more constraints on Russia, the price will keep going up,” he said.
Montrealers weighed in on the CTV Montreal Facebook page Friday afternoon with their thoughts on the price at the pump, with some saying they will reduce their driving or choose other modes of transport.
“I will make the effort to reduce my traveling – I typically do about 100km per day – and I will try to gas outside of town as much as possible. Even with fuel efficient cars it is becoming increasingly difficult to absorb such costs,” wrote Audrey Brown.
Some even said they would consider hybrid or electric vehicles to cut their gas consumption.
Maithem Rehailaty said he drives for his job and wondered, “Do I have to work less to save on gas with everything price in rising??!!!”
“I’ve stopped going to my usual places that were further from home and sticking to finding what I need near my house. Between the price of gas and the price of groceries, not like I’m going to go out and live a lavish life anyway,” wrote Lisa MacAskill.
The City of Montreal said in a statement to CTV that the rise in fuel costs will not impact municipal services and that it sets aside a contingency fund — which for 2022 is $38 million — every year for unforeseen events.
With files from The Canadian Press