Last week the price of oil hit its highest price level in more than a year.

On Wednesday, the price of oil settled at $51.82 (U.S.) per barrel.

Business Commentator for Golden West Radio, Paul Martin, sees this as a remarkable feat for the commodity as the price was sitting at $26.21 (U.S.) in February.

"Anytime the price of oil goes up it's good news for those of us who are producers," he said.

"So, in this neighbourhood that's going to be greeted with a smile and just whether or not it's going to continue to go along is the questions everybody's going to be asking."

Martin said production controls put into place by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been a factor in the increase.

"OPEC countries kind of blinked first and they decided to put some production controls in, basically saying, 'We're not going to add to capacity.' And that should shorten up the supply and that would push up the price," he explained.

"Obviously the production controls that OPEC has been trying to impose, they're having some impact," Martin added, citing a report from Statistics Canada last week that oil inventories were moving more rapidly.

Martin includes the rising demand by consumer in the U.S., the ability to get the product to market and the value of the Canadian dollar (which is sitting around $0.75) also help push up the price.

The last time oil hit such levels was July 14, 2015 when the price settled at $53.04 (U.S.) per barrel.