While you will most likely see a rise at the pumps before this week is over, buckle up because the ride will be a rough one.

Gas Buddy just released that 2018 will likely see gas prices the highest since 2014. Dan McTeague, Senior Petroleum Analyst for Gas Buddy, shares the long-range forecast is going to hit your pocketbook hard. "2018' s going to be a very expensive year, brace for it. I think it's going to be a tipping point, perhaps, the straw that breaks the camel's back. We all have to accept these prices but the circumstances under which these prices are rising can be mitigated, and that, of course, is something the public will have to decide in days to come in terms of direction it wants to take on carbon taxes but also on pipeline issues."

With West Texas Intermediate (being the benchmark of most oil for North America) going at about $61 a barrel, McTeague says, unfortunately, Canadian oil is being heavily discounted. "Western Canadian Select is being discounted deeply at about $25.50 dollars a barrel or about $36 a barrel. Because we are not able to send enough oil to other markets including the United States these discounts will continue and wreak havoc on the Canadian economy as a whole, simply because we price our fuel in US terms and our Canadian dollar is very sensitive to the depreciation of oil prices. If oil prices drop, it means the Canadian dollar value drops and it means the more it will cost at the pumps."

McTeague predicts motorists will see a 7 c/L increase across the board for 2018, with about 2 to 3 cents being weakness from the Canadian dollar. Although you may think our pricing may be set by Edmonton or Saskatchewan refineries, McTeague says our prices quite rigorously follow the Chicago markets.

This week motorists across most of southern Alberta including Cochrane will see prices at the pumps hit between 110.0 -115.0 c/L. McTeague states the reasoning is two-fold. "There is some speculation over the geopolitical tensions in Iran on oil and the second one, two refineries in the midwest which are experiencing some difficulties could translate into a 2 c/L increase likely by Thursday or Friday and if not Monday of next week."

Motorists have already seen a permanent 2.35 c/L increase at the pumps due to the second phase of the carbon tax rolling out and McTeague says motorists should be prepared that prices are not expected to recover. "What that really means is the days of under a dollar a litre gasoline may be over and in 2018 look for the new normal to be between 110.0 to 120.0 or about 5 to 7 c/L on average more than what you paid in 2017."

As Alberta moves from the number one to number three spot in the country for affordable gas, you may want to look at the positive. At least prices won't be as high as what is being anticipated in 2021 or 2022 when we will see an additional 5-7 c/L hit us thanks to the federal carbon tax. "There is no doubt that diesel, gasoline, cost of heating, cost of electricity and pretty much everything out there is going up."