If you’ve driven past a gas station today chances are you’ve noticed a big jump in the price of gas.

On Monday morning some gas stations in Airdrie were as high as $1.239/litre.

According to Gas Buddy, prices in Alberta have risen around five cents per litre from last week averaging 1.176/litre.

Gas price analyst Dan McTeague said the cost of purchasing wholesale fuel has risen.

“The reality is that we’ve seen wholesale prices since the beginning of the month move up around 13 cents per litre,” he explained. “If we go back to the beginning of February that number more like 20 cents a litre, and it’s up around 25 cents a litre from the beginning of the year.”

Some of the cost increase can be connected to refinery issues in the United States.

“Ongoing problems at U.S. refineries in the Pacific and Pacific Northwest markets are likely to exert even greater pressure on domestic pump prices, including the transition to summer spec gasoline across much of Western Canada,” said McTeague

The senior petroleum analyst said the Canadian dollar also plays a big part in oil prices here as much of our fuel is purchased from the United States and is paid for using US currency.

McTeague adds the prices are expected to continue climbing into the summer months.

“I think this is going to be a year of extreme volatility at the pumps,” he said. “We are going to see much higher prices, potentially another five to ten cents a litre in the summer.”

With several provinces implementing a carbon tax in April, the national average price per litre for gasoline will continue to increase as well.

Comments? Questions? Story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com