Gas prices in southern Ontario set to rise on Thursday and it won't stop there, one expert says

Gas prices iin southern Ontario are set to rise five cents on Thursday and are expected to continue rising this fall, according to one industry analyst.

President of Canadians for Affordable Energy Dan Mcteague predicts that gas prices will increase to 153.9 cents per litre as of midnight on Thursday, and won’t stop there.

“Going forward, slowly in the month of October and a little faster in November, we're going to see prices rise. Especially on the diesel side, on the jet fuel side, on the natural gas side. On the home heating side, on the propane side. And yes that will impact gasoline,” he tells CP24.com.

McTeague says fuel prices right now are “as good as it gets” and recommends that drivers fill up ahead of this weekend.

He adds that Hurricane Ian, which was nearing Florida's southwest coast Wednesday morning, will play a big role in determining gas prices over the coming days.

“There's a chance we could see prices moving up and we're going to have to watch what happens to Hurricane Ian. A lot of people saying it won’t affect assets that create energy, oil, gasoline, oil in the United States, but there's a pipeline that goes to there called a Colonial Pipeline. I don't think it'd be flooded, but if it does it may shut down temporarily,” McTeague says.

He says the impact of colder weather on the demand for more energy resources, which are in limited supply particularly in Europe, will also contribute to rising fuel prices.

In addition, McTeague says the weakness of the Canadian dollar is bringing up prices at the pumps.

A week ago, the loonie briefly fell below 74 cents US in early trading, hitting a low not seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So that's a big deal because we price all of our energy and all of our products in Canada in U.S. dollars, it’s now taking about 137 pennies to buy U.S. dollars. So that's really the bottom line, is that I don’t think there’s a lot of things that augur well for consumers. I think prices are likely to go higher, maybe back to $160.0 (per litre) in the month of October,” he says.

Gas prices have been on the rise across Southern Ontario since late February, primarily due to fuel supply shortages amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the international sanctions that have been imposed as a result of the war.