Calgary gas prices are on the rise

If you recently filled up your car, your wallet may have taken a bigger hit than usual.

Regular leaded gasoline in Calgary is at 136.9 per liter as of Thursday and is expected to rise as refineries enter the maintenance season and an “unplanned” shutdown of Indiana's sixth-largest refinery will also affect Chicago.

“It's a very large customer of Western Canadian Select, about 280,000 barrels per day,” said Roger McKnight, chief oil analyst at En-Pro International.

“So it went down, and it was unplanned because they weren't planned, which is a fancy way of saying it's messed up.”

The cheapest gas in the Calgary area is 124.9 a liter at Tsuu'tina Costco.

“Prices rise around mid-February and peak in mid-April because of so-called maintenance. But this year is going to be much deeper and longer,” McKnight said.

“It's going to have a big impact on prices, you're going to see prices change very quickly on the prairies.”

Truck driver Harry Malley says he felt the pumps hit.

“The pay is the same, but with gas prices and other things going up, it's very difficult to maintain at this time,” he said.

“Driving these big trucks and when you're hauling anything, we're affected by every second.”

Malley says his diesel truck costs more than that.

“When I pumped it, that day I think it was $1.49, now it's $1.62, $1.63,” Malley said.

“It depends on the tanks, about $1,000.”

McKnight expects the price hike to last at least six weeks, conservatively predicting another five to eight cents a litre.