Dan McTeague from Gasbuddy.com says prices are expected to even out over the next few months

Gas prices in the Foothills are holding steady heading into the May long weekend, with a possibility of prices even dropping slightly.

Average prices in Okotoks are hovering around the 96.6 cents/litre mark, down three cents from this time in April.

Dan McTeague, Senior Petroleum Analyst with Gasbuddy.com, says it could be a very pleasant weekend overall at the pumps for local motorists.

"It looks like we're heading into the long weekend with prices that might actually dip a penny, but come next week, we could see prices easily rise. And it really depends of course on the U.S. Inventory Report, which comes out every Wednesday, and that will let us know whether the supply of gasoline continues to build as crude."

This is a bit of an odd trend for gas prices, as American oil producers have slowly been about to increase production after some down months early on in 2015.

McTeague says seeing a slight drop in oil prices is well overdue in Alberta.

"It would appear that we are heading towards greater production. And if demand remains static in both Canada and the United States, their Memorial Day long weekend begins next week with our's this weekend, we could actually see prices dip towards the summer. But I'm not holding my breath, this should have happened a couple of weeks ago."

Despite gas prices rising over 15 cents since February, it's a far cry from last year's average of 121.4 cents/litre.

McTeague adds despite prices getting close, it's not very likely the $1/litre mark will be passed in the next few weeks.

"Barring some geo-political event or someone getting really happy about ignoring the level of crude production and inventory in stock piles globally and domestically, I don't see how prices can be sustained over $1/litre anytime soon."

In regards to prices increasing during long weekends, McTeague says it would merely be a coincidence and would not be due to any potential price gouging.