A drop in oil prices will not stop gas prices from climbing higher, experts say.
Fuel prices reached new record heights in Edmonton on Wednesday.
Prices in Alberta's capital city range from $1.699/L to $1.799/L, according to GasBuddy.
GasBuddy analyst Patrick de Haan told The Canadian Press he expects prices to continue rising, even though the price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed on Wednesday at US$110.36, down nearly 11 per cent from the previous day's trading. It marked the first significant pullback since the war in Ukraine started and sent oil prices soaring.
de Haan said lower crude prices are good news for drivers, but will only serve to slow the rate of increase at the pumps and that retailers haven't fully passed recent cost increases on to consumers yet.
Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, expects a slight drop in price on Friday, and advised consumers who could wait to fill up until then to do so.
The average price of gas in Edmonton has risen more than 20 cents per litre in March compared to February.
In Calgary, gas prices have risen 25 cents per litre since February.
Alberta will stop collecting its 13-cent-per-litre provincial gas tax on April 1 if the price of WTI remains above US$100 per barrel. The province’s gas tax would be collected again in full when WTI falls below US$80.
With files from The Canadian Press
