Oil Price News Again.

Gas prices hit another record as shortages of gasoline have given an extra bump to pump prices, pushing the average cost of fuel to record levels for the third week in a row. In Canada, the nationwide average cost for a litre of regular gasoline jumped to $1.045 Tuesday morning, according to a weekly survey by M.J. Ervin & Associates Inc., the first time that the national tally has topped the $1 mark.

The latest increase of 5.2 cents a litre means that gasoline prices are up nearly 25 per cent from this time last year, and 11 per cent this month alone. The rising cost of crude oil has been responsible for most of that spurt, but the increasingly strained supplies of gasoline gave an additional boost to prices this week. The cost of a fill-up was highest in Montreal, where regular cost $1.144 a litre, more than even in remote Yellowknife and Whitehorse. Gasoline was least expensive in Edmonton, at 93.3 cents a litre, with lower taxes in the province helping to keep prices down.

This behaviour explains little with regard to why prices spike sharply at the beginning of weekends, but I'm sure this has much to so with on-the-spot shortages as lazy drivers don't get deliveries in on time at the stations (especially those at busy throughfares).