Gas prices soar across the province Wednesday

EDMONTON -

Gas prices soared on Wednesday with some Edmonton gas stations selling regular unleaded for 141.9-a-litre.

Drivers were lined up at the Costco off Winterburn Road where gas was going for 119-a-litre, in the hopes of filling up before another price increase.

"I think they're ridiculously high, but what can we do about it? Go electric?" asked one driver.

"We're one of the major producers, yet we're paying higher and higher prices," said a woman filling up at Costco. "I would think living in Alberta we would have the benefit of lower gas prices."

A petroleum analyst says there are a couple factors responsible for these record prices.

"This is really in response to oil increasing from $71 to $79 a barrel in the span of a couple days starting Monday," said Dan McTeague.

"It's also the fact that the Canadian dollar didn't respond. Normally in the past we've seen a significant 10 to 15 per cent increase in the price of oil and we also see a corresponding increase in the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. greenback and that's really, really critical."

Gas prices were even higher in Calgary with a litre of unleaded regular gasoline hovering around the $1.43 mark as of Wednesday morning.

In the short term, McTeague does offer some good news. He believes the price per litre will drop by a few pennies as early as Friday.