Oil Hits US$116: What You’ll Pay at the Pump This Weekend

Brent crude touched US$116.11 a barrel on Friday morning, Oct. 23, 2026, its highest level since May, and December West Texas Intermediate rose to US$102.20, according to CNBC market data. The latest jump followed an Iranian state television report that seven tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz, a claim The Associated Press said it could not independently confirm; Lloyd’s List Intelligence counts 28 attacks on ships in October. Natural Resources Canada says regular gasoline averaged 182.0 cents a litre nationally in the week ended Oct. 20, up from 137.6 cents a year earlier, and diesel averaged $2.68 a litre, up from $1.50. For this weekend, forecaster Dan McTeague of Canadians for Affordable Energy expects Calgary prices to rise 13 cents on Saturday to 186.9 cents, after a 14-cent rise on Friday, which works out to about $16 more for a 60-litre fill-up than on Thursday. Ottawa’s fuel excise relief of up to 10 cents a litre runs to the end of January, and Alberta’s 13-cent fuel tax is paused until Dec. 31. Each US$1 rise in the year’s average WTI price adds about $680 million to Alberta’s treasury, Global News reported from the province’s first-quarter update. The loonie traded at 71.49 cents US, and the Bank of Canada’s next rate decision is Oct. 28.

Full story: WTI tops US$100, Brent nears US$116 as Hormuz fears grow.

Sources: CNBC market data, Oct. 23, 2026; The Associated Press, Oct. 22 and 23, 2026; U.S. Energy Information Administration, WTI spot price, Cushing, Okla.; Natural Resources Canada, weekly average retail prices, regular gasoline, Canada; Canadians for Affordable Energy, city gas price forecasts (Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax), published Oct. 23, 2026; The Canadian Press (diesel prices from Natural Resources Canada, federal fuel excise relief, Alberta fuel tax pause, Tiff Macklem’s Oct. 17 remarks); Global News, Aug. 27, 2026, on Alberta’s first-quarter fiscal update. Charts drawn by Canada News Media from these figures; the fill-up cost is our own calculation from the forecasts. Photos and maps: Ken Lund (CC BY-SA 2.0), a 2004 CIA map (public domain), U.S. Central Command (public domain) and Tupungato (CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons, credited in the video.

Read our coverage: Oil nears US$100 as Iran reports 7 tankers hit in Hormuz; Factory-gate diesel prices double as IPPI climbs 14.5%; Will the Bank of Canada raise interest rates on Oct. 28?