If you're watching the markets, you may have noticed, or perhaps you already suspected, that gas prices aren't following the downward trend in oil prices.

A barrel of Brent crude oil was fetching about 125 dollars back in april. It is currently going for 105 dollars. Yet the price of a litre of gas at the pump is virtually unchanged over that same period.  Petroleum analyst Roger McKnight says oil companies use different crude oil prices to explain refining and other margins, and are making alot of money.

And McKnight says Montrealers, already dealing with a significant gas price hike this week, can expect more of the same and says there's no objective reason for it, other than the current chaos on the world financial scene. Oil companies, he says, are profiting from confusion and emotion.

As for Montreal motorists, McKnight says they should expect  another 2 or 3 cent a litre hike at the pump in the next 24 hours.