Gas prices are set to drop by another four cents per litre on Friday but at least one industry analyst is warning drivers that the relief at the pumps will be temporary.

Gas prices are at a welcome low of $158.9 cents per litre across southern Ontario today, down nearly 60 cents from the peak of 215.9 cents per litre on June 11.

They are expected to fall by another four cents to 154.9 cents per litre as of Friday.

The last time prices were that low was back on Feb. 19.

However, President of Canadians for Affordable Energy Dan McTeague says prices are “bottoming out” and are expected to rise.

“While we get this bit of a break, I never thought I'd see the day where 158.9 would be celebrated, I suspect that we're going to start to see gasoline prices soon track diesel prices,” McTeague told CP24 Wednesday morning.

McTeague says prices could jump nearly 30 cents to $190.0 cents per litre in the coming days.

He added that the rise in prices can be attributed to an ongoing volatile oil and gas market.

“You have an example of very panicky paper traders, people not really physically involved with the delivery, the production of oil and gasoline. So what we're looking at is a scenario now developing, especially given what Saudi Arabia had to say just a couple of days ago that this market is dysfunctional. It's not reflecting the scarcity in supply more so than the issue of concern about demand,” McTeague said.

Gas prices have been elevated since late February due to fuel supply shortages amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the international sanctions that have been imposed as a result of the war. 

Today marks six months from the onset of the war and McTeague says the crisis continues to have an impact on fuel supply, which in turn is contributing to higher prices at the pumps.

“Europeans don't have enough natural gas, electricity, coal, energy prices for all of the European Union. Members are going to be at levels never seen before. The alternative- diesel and oil, which is what they're going to burn along with coal. What it means is that gasoline prices can't stay where they are,” he said.