{"id":551316,"date":"2026-03-21T14:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T14:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551316\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T14:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T14:08:16","slug":"if-the-iranian-war-ended-today-canadians-would-continue-to-see-high-gas-prices-for-the-next-three-to-six-months-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551316\/","title":{"rendered":"If the Iranian war ended today, Canadians would continue to see high gas prices for the next three to six months: expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

What to know<\/p>\n

The war in Iran prompted the closure of the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 a critical chokepoint through which most of the oil produced in the Persian Gulf is exported.<\/p>\n

The closure has put a strain on the global supply chain, directly affecting the price of oil and liquefied gas across the world.<\/p>\n

The rise in the cost of oil is expected to have a ripple effect on the Canadian economy, putting vulnerable populations at increased risk.<\/p>\n

The war in Iran has put a significant strain on the world\u2019s energy supply chain. In Canada, the prices at the gas pumps have skyrocketed.<\/p>\n

According to the province\u2019s motor fuel index<\/a>, as of March 16th, the price of Regular Unleaded Gasoline was 166.6 cents per litre in Southern Ontario. Nationwide, the average of gas prices on Friday was 168.0 cents per litre \u2013 up almost 40 cents from the monthly average in February.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The price at the pumps is a direct reflection of what is happening (or not happening) at the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 a critical chokepoint between Iran and the United Arab Emirates through which 38 per cent of the world\u2019s crude oil, 29 per cent of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 19 per cent of liquified natural gas (LNG), and 19 per cent of refined oil products (e.g. motor fuel) have passed through prior to the conflict.<\/p>\n

\"\"AI generation disabled<\/p>\n

The closure of the strait in late February meant the global supply of aforementioned resources were disrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is, supply has been limited extensively,\u201d Walid Hejazi, professor of economic analysis and policy at the University of Toronto, tells Now Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe direct effect is gas prices go up, and natural gas prices go up. All of those energy costs go up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chart(Courtesy: United States Trade and Development)<\/p>\n

Although the pressure is currently felt most directly at the pumps, Hejazi says Canadians can expect a ripple effect in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next few months, we\u2019re going to start to see these increased gas and energy prices manifest themselves in higher grocery prices and so many other products that we buy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Earlier today, the CEO of QatarEnergy told Reuters<\/a> Iranian attacks damaged 17 per cent of Qatar\u2019s LNG export capacity, the repairs of which would take three to five years. Hejazi says this will disproportionately impact India, Singapore, and other Southeast Asian nations.<\/p>\n

China, on the other hand, he says, will not see as big of an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese have been anticipating this kind of an event, and they built up a huge reserve of energy resources,\u201d Hejazi says.<\/p>\n

While Canada also has a large oil reserve \u2013 the fourth largest in the world<\/a> \u2013 the difference between China and Canada is that the oil reserves in the North American nation are privately owned, which means Canadians will continue to see prices rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Canada and the U.S. have a lot of oil, it\u2019s not like they\u2019re going to give it to Canadians at a price below the global price,\u201d Hejazi says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are private companies that maximize profit. They\u2019re going to sell [their oil] to whoever gives them the highest price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hejazi says at this time, the federal government should be thinking of ways it can help the country\u2019s working class who are going to be most impacted by the costs of the foreseeable rise in prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now and for the next six months, maybe longer, Canadians, Ontarians, Torontonians are going to be paying more for energy,\u201d Hejazi confirms.<\/p>\n

He says if the war were to end today, it would take three to six months to clear the backlog of all of the ships stuck from crossing the strait and replenish the supply.<\/p>\n

That estimated backlog, according to Hejazi, would grow linearly if no more oil infrastructure were targeted by strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if they blow up more infrastructure, then [the growth of the backlog] is exponential.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What to know The war in Iran prompted the closure of the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 a critical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,6664,202944],"class_list":{"0":"post-551316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-gas-price","12":"tag-iran-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}