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Commuters had an unpleasant surprise Wednesday morning as prices at the gas pumps spiked as high as $1.20 a litre in response to high oil prices. Gas prices soared on average to $1.10 a litre across the country, two cents higher than Calgary-based pump watcher MJ Ervin's reported national average price of $1.088 last week. It's also nearly a 20 cent rise since last year. The average price per litre was $0.915 on Feb. 20, 2007. Montreal's prices were the highest in the country Wednesday, at $1.20. Ghazi Aasim, filling his car at a Montreal gas station, said he was only filling his tank halfway in case prices dropped. "You have to take a gamble every time you go to the gas pump ... It's just a game," he said. "I guess if it continues like this for a couple of months, it's going to hurt my pockets." In Calgary, prices jumped to $1.04 per litre after hovering around the loonie mark for the past week. Commuters in the Greater Toronto Area and Vancouver saw prices in the vicinity of $1.10. In the Atlantic provinces, where gas prices are regulated, customers saw a smaller jump. Prices in Nova Scotia ranged from $1.11 to $1.15 a litre, while the maximum price in New Brunswick was $1.07 and prices ranged from $1.04 to $1.06 in Prince Edward Island. In St. John's, prices hovered around $1.14 a litre. Soaring oil prices, which closed above $100 US a barrel on Tuesday, helped drive up the cost of filling up at the pumps. The boost in oil prices was triggered in part by an explosion Monday at Alon USA's Big Spring refinery in Texas, which could be closed for a month. Normally, such an explosion would not have much effect on prices, but these are not normal times, said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets. "There's very little excess supply in the system, so every little supply accident, and every tiny disruption we see, threatens to send prices, at least temporarily, spiking higher," he told CBC News on Wednesday. Other factors driving gasoline and oil prices skyward Wednesday include the possibility that OPEC might cut production next month, the threat of new violence in Nigeria and continuing tensions between the U.S. and major oil exporter Venezuela. But Tina Vital, an oil and gas analyst in New York City, said there could be relief in sight. The United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, is in a time of economic slowdown and may be reducing its demand for oil as a result. "With new supply coming and demand weakening, that would probably set the stage for lower oil prices," Vital said. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Wednesday that Ottawa isn't likely to step in to regulate gas prices. "Canada is a net exporter of oil, so we're in a relatively unique position in the world, so that it has an effect that's positive in terms of one part of the economy, and then of course it has some effects, since it's a market commodity, on prices in Canada," he said. "But again, this is a market commodity and the market will determine the price. It's not something for governments to determine." With files from the Canadian Press