Gas prices have risen approximately 10 cents per litre over the last two weeks in Southwest Saskatchewan.

The gas prices were driven up by two big refineries in Chicago that had trouble producing gasoline about two weeks ago, resulting in speculators driving gasoline prices up 30 cents a gallon.

The average price of gas in Swift Current as of Sunday is 102.9 per litre, one of the cheapest prices across the province.

Senior Petroleum Analyst with GasBuddy Dan McTeague is expecting prices to jump by approximately 4 cents per litre as of this morning.

He went on to explain why the increase is necessary.

"If it's at 1.02 (cents per litre), retailers are barely able to refill their tanks because it's costing them 97 cents. That's a four cent a litre retail margin," he said. "I don't know about you but I don't carry around cash, I buy with a credit card. When I present that credit card that costs the retailer about 2 cents on every litre of gasoline. Now it's costing them 99 cents a litre and they are getting about 3 cents a litre as a retail margin. That isn't enough to keep your gas station running."

Gasoline Prices are averaging $1.08 in both Regina and Saskatoon as of Sunday afternoon. McTeague believes living in smaller urban centres is beneficial gas price wise.

"There are substantial benefits generally speaking in my experience and I've been in the businesses along time. Where smaller towns, especially in western Canada, have the benefit of the gas retail saying we bought gas a little cheaper and we know we won't have to refill the tanks for a few days, so we will keep it (the gas price) at this level. It's also perhaps a reflection of competition among retails, that nobody really wants to raise the price unless they really have to," he told Swift Current Online Sunday afternoon.

He added whereas in big cities once one gas station raises their price they all raise them and it's almost routine.

He also explained why when the gas prices rise in the United States it has a domino effect on Canada.

"We pay all of our fuel in U.S. term (when importing it). We also rely for pricing on the America's and it's been that way for the past 40 years. It does speak to the fact that we are the follower, not leaders when it comes to the production of gasoline," he said.

Canada's average gas price is approximately $1.13 per litre as of Sunday afternoon. 

Since the Chicago refineries are back online, McTeague is predicting gas prices to stay in between $1 and $1.10 per litre in Swift Current over the next few weeks.