Canadians are paying an average of about four cents more per litre for gasoline than they did one week ago as oil prices briefly set another new record.
The average Canadian price is now $1.29 per litre, up 3.9 cents, according to the weekly survey by M.J. Ervin and Associates, a Calgary consulting firm.
In major Canadian cities, Montrealers have the most to squawk about. The average price there is $1.39 per litre.
Toronto comes in at $1.24 per litre. Here are some other cities (price rounded to two decimal places):
- Vancouver - $1.32
- Edmonton/Calgary - $1.23
- Regina - $1.32
- Winnipeg - $1.27
- Ottawa - $1.24
- Quebec City - $1.31
- Moncton - $1.24
- Halifax - $1.31
- St. John's, N.L - $1.34
Labrador City in Labrador has Canada's highest price at $1.42. Kingston, Ont. is lowest at $1.18.
U.S. gas prices have hit a new record of $3.73 per U.S. gallon, or about 98.4 cents per litre.
Taxes are seen as the reason why Canada's price is more than 30 cents per litre higher than the U.S. price.
Some analysts are predicting that gasoline prices could break the $4 per gallon mark (about $1.06 per litre), given that drivers in some U.S. cities already pay that much.
There is also speculation that gasoline won't follow its usual pattern of peaking around the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend before drifting down.
In oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price for the June contract of light, sweet crude reached up to $126.98 per barrel before sagging to $125.93.
The market was reacting to talk that Iran might cut oil production.
Iranian officials later denied production cuts were looming, but said a reduction had been discussed. Experts discounted the notion that Iran would try to reduce production, given that its economy is in poor shape.
"They need all the petrodollars they can get," said James Cordier of the Tampa Bay firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.
The International Energy Agency said Tuesday that high prices are starting to reduce demand for oil and other petroleum products in the U.S. and Europe.
Its oil demand growth forecast has been reduced to 1.2 per cent from 1.5 per cent. U.S. oil demand is expected to fall by 2.1 per cent.
Analysts noted that China has recently reported a drop in crude oil imports. Surging demand from China and other fast-growing economies has helped drive the rise in oil's price.
At a financial services conference in New York on Tuesday, TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark said anyone lending money in western Canada should do so on the basis that current commodities prices are too high.
With files from The Associated Press
