Canadians can expect even higher prices at the pumps following Russia's attack on Ukraine, one expert tells CTVNews.ca.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine will have obvious effects on the price of oil and gas, as these two markets are also connected," Werner Antweiler, director of the Sauder School of Business Prediction Markets at the University of British Columbia, said in an email.
Energy economists, he said, expect the war in Ukraine to unsettle markets and raise crude prices well into the range of between US$100 and $120 per barrel.
Russia's attack on Thursday sent shockwaves through the markets, with Moscow's stock exchange suspending trading briefly before experiencing serious losses.
Russia is the world's third largest producer of oil, accounting for .
Antweiler pointed to the price of oil benchmarks Brent crude, which topped US$100 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate, which traded at about US$96.50 earlier Thursday morning.
"These prices will get passed on to consumers. Every one U.S. dollar increase in the crude price will translate into at least a 0.55-cent increase at the pump, if the Canadian dollar rises along with the price of oil," he said.
"That hasn't been the case lately for a number of reasons, and thus the passthrough will be larger."
This means in Canada, a one U.S. dollar increase in crude oil will translate to about 0.8 cents per litre, he said.
At US$90 per barrel, which has been seen over the last couple of weeks, the price of gas in Canada could expect to increase to between eight and 24 cents/l, Antweiler said.
In a province like British Columbia, he said gas will likely top $2/l once taxes and margins are included.
Gas prices have remained elevated in Canada for weeks, hitting record highs in cities such as , B.C.; ; ; and .
Experts cited the possibility of an escalation in tensions between Ukraine and Russia then as a factor.
Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, told CP24 that gas prices in Ontario .
"This is going to be a much longer term increase in the price of all commodities driven by oil and of course driven by the most serious geopolitical threat the world has faced, at least since the 1940s and 1950s," he said.
"With that in mind, it's likely that oil is going to go to at least $135 a barrel. We're at about $99 right now. The implications of course are at a time in which prices are already elevated. This is only going to compound for many people a lot of pain at the pumps, among other things, as it makes its way to pretty much every other commodity including food."
With files from Â鶹´«Ã½ and The Associated Press
