The Nunavut government is preparing for a much higher fuel bill this year, just as the annual fuel resupply is set to begin this summer.

Finance officials estimate the government will spend $70 million to $85 million more on fuel this year than last, Finance Minister Louis Tapardjuk told MLAs in the legislative assembly Friday.

That increase alone is nearly as much as the government's entire capital budget for this year.

"Prices in fuel [are] forever escalating and there seems to be no ending in sight," said Community and Government Services Minister Levinia Brown, whose department handles the purchase, import and distribution of petroleum products in Nunavut.

"For certain, there's some constituents out there already speculating that there's going to be a price increase," she added. "I can't say that it's going to go down, because already we're seeing the price [of crude oil] is $135 a barrel."

Nunavummiut have been sheltered from rising oil and gas prices so far this year, since the government heavily subsidizes the price of fuel in the territory.

But MLAs are concerned that global energy prices may be soaring too high: around this time last year, crude oil cost about $60 a barrel, compared to $135 a barrel in recent days.

Brown said her department is still working on negotiating most of its annual fuel purchase, adding that it will have to deal with the higher costs.

But Energy Minister Ed Picco said he cannot remember the last time Nunavut faced such a dramatic price hike, which he added came at the worst possible time — the summer fuel resupply season.

"Some of the fuel has been nominated, which means it has been purchased," Picco said. "But the majority of our fuel purchases you'll see occurring now, between May and June, for shipment between the summer months."

Picco said he plans to brief the legislature Wednesday on the fuel cost increase, as well as the government's plan to address it.