When refueling a pickup truck in Vancouver last weekend, Peter Bremotier said: “I don’t always want to fill up the gas all the time. The price of oil there has climbed to $1.70 per liter.” “It’s like breaking the bank.”

North American benchmark oil prices have risen from below US$50 per barrel at the beginning of the year to more than US$70 per barrel recently, which is close to the 2018 high.Chatted a few more words About $100 per barrel of oil To next year.

The market generally expects that the COVID-19 vaccine will boost global oil demand, despite some concerns Potential impact of new delta variants.

The market will focus on oil producing countries on Friday OPEC is expected to make a decision How much crude oil production will increase in the next few months.

According to Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Canadian gasoline prices have also reached their highest levels in the past five to seven years.

He said that a year ago, in April 2020, the average gasoline price in the country plummeted to 76 cents. According to GasBuddy, earlier this week, the average price of gasoline in Canada was about $1.36 per liter.

De Haan believes that gasoline prices may continue to rise for some time.

De Haan said in an interview this week: “As demand may continue to increase, we may not see price peaks in the next four weeks.”

“Remember that the pandemic in Canada has only just begun to really ease. In the next four weeks, as more people feel better about going out, they will do so.”

He does not expect price increases to curb consumer demand.

“even if [gasoline] The price has indeed reached a record high, and I don’t think many Canadians will be persuaded to stay at home this summer,” he said.

De Haan said that rising fuel and oil prices may also affect the prices of other commodities, such as air tickets, groceries and other commodities.

Economist Rory Johnston said that rising oil prices will also help increase the value of the U.S. dollar and government tax revenue. And energy royalties.

“I think Canadian oil sands also look like they will have very, very strong cash flow and very strong profitability,” said Johnston, managing director of Toronto-based Price Street.

“This will mean higher corporate taxes. For those who are still receiving wages, it means higher personal taxes.”

The rise in oil prices is good news for oil companies because the industry wants to rebuild its balance sheet after borrowing heavily from the industry. Survived a long downturn Thousands of layoffs.

Companies are also responding to the changing energy landscape, including climate change, Carbon policy and long-term prospects Fossil fuel demand.

Analyst Jeremy McRae said that although the company’s cash flow is improving, he does not expect a sharp rebound in capital expenditures or employment in the industry this year.

“position [will] Come back a little bit,” McCray said, who lives in Calgary with Raymond James. “You will see some spending increases there, but very, very weak. “

This spring, PetroLMI’s Labor market outlook It is expected that starting next year, Canada’s oil and gas jobs will grow “modestly”, and the recruitment of skilled workers has become a problem.

The organization’s The latest data From December to May, the number of exploration and production jobs in Alberta has steadily increased.

Some people say that things are starting to get better now.

Adam Waterman, Baytex Energy’s service rig coordinator, said there are already signs that the situation is getting better again.

“Across the province, I heard that we are rich in iron but poor,” Waterman said while working on a former natural gas well site near Alta Camrose recently. “I haven’t been so optimistic about Canadian Energy for many years.”

Scott Darling, president of Performance Energy Services, said that his company is already busy with abandoning work at the well site.

With 70 US dollars of US oil, he believes that production in the oil zone will pick up again, thereby intensifying competition for workers.

“People have left the province; [it’s] It’s really difficult to attract them back,” he said.