Canadian drivers could save as much as $12 billion at the pumps in 2015, according to a new report, if oil prices stay low throughout the year.

If Canadians continue to pay about 98 cents a litre, which was the average gas price in Canada at the close of 2014, that could mean weekly savings of approximately $25 per household.

That adds up to $100 per month, or $1,200 per year, multiplied by more than 8 million Canadian households with cars.

However, such estimates depend on a few assumptions, warns Marvin Ryder of McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business.

“The biggest of these is that gasoline prices and oil prices are going to remain low throughout the year,” he told CTV News Channel in an interview from Hamilton, Ont.

Oil prices have sunk below US$60 per barrel, and there is little reason to believe they will rise anytime soon. OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has so far refused to cut production amid the price slump and there is no sign it plans to change course.

Ryder suspects OPEC may be intentionally keeping the lid on oil prices in order to force countries that produce oil at higher costs, namely Canada and the United States, to slash production on their own.

“Some of those operations may have layoffs, they may cut back on their employees, may not do as much exploration,” Ryder said Friday.

“That, in the long run, is better news for OPEC. So they may be prepared to take a hit short-term to cause a longer-term pain to the Canadian and American oil industries.”

Meanwhile, low oil prices equal bad news for various levels of government in Canada that rely on revenue from natural resources.

A CIBC World Markets report, released last month, estimated that the federal and provincial governments stand to lose a combined $13 billion on plummeting oil prices, which could force them to slash spending, abandon campaign promises, and include fewer goodies to voters in their upcoming budgets.

However, the report went on, every $2 drop in crude prices shaves about a cent per litre from prices at the pump.

“So even if oil rebounds to average $70 next year, the savings could provide Canadians with the equivalent of a $10 billion boost to incomes,” the CIBC economists wrote.