An expert says gas prices this summer in the Kamloops area likely won’t peak above what prices were this past weekend.

Gasbuddy.com senior analyst Dan McTeague predicts that prices will fluctuate between $1.30 and $1.45 this summer.

But he says there is one global factor that throws long-term gas predictions out the window.

“I don’t think we can discount the total effect of what I think is going to be a real growing concern, that’s trade between the U.S. and China. It looks like both sides are hunkering down for the long game, and it looks like that’s going to mean a lessening of demand globally.”

McTeague says a lessening of demand could bring down prices, but he says the US-China trade war could trigger economic declines which could bring prices back up.

“With countries like Venezuela, Libya and Iran no longer able to sell as much oil as they did before, you’re getting really two contrasting and very opposing forces. One pushing prices down in the case of global trade, and the other one pushing prices up in the case of scarcity of oil supplies.”