Gas prices continue to climb across Saskatchewan, and Moose Jaw isn’t an exception. The average price per litre is $1.189. It is a jump of five cents in a relatively short time span.

Dan McTeague is the senior petroleum analyst for gasbuddy.com. He explained the increases in the price have a number of factors, all of which are outside of the control of retailers.

“We’ve seen wholesale prices for gasoline go up by about five or six cents a litre in the past week or so, slowly but surely,” McTeague told Discover Weyburn. He listed off a number of factors which are behind those increases.

“Some of that is related to two Edmonton refineries which are running at lower rates of production, as well as increases on the spot market,” he elaborated. A third factor is the value of the Canadian dollar. McTeague explained the dollar generally moves up with the price of oil, but as of late, it has remained stagnant when compared to the U.S. dollar. This results in less purchasing power on the spot market, which is based on U.S. dollars in Chicago.

With the higher wholesale prices, retailers are buying gas for upwards of $1.179 a litre, putting constraints on an already narrow bottom line.

“Selling it go $1.19 is not economical, especially if someone presents you with a credit card that runs two or three cents a litre, you’re now selling gasoline at or below what it costs to provide it,” McTeague said.

To offset this, retailers could be looking at having to increase gas prices by an additional six to eight cents a litre just to move above the cost.