Why Gas Prices Are Continuing to Rise

Gas prices at local gas stations continue to rise

Ma

Gas prices at local gas stations continue to rise

Amber Havard, Reporter

Over the course of 2022 the price of gas at the pump has slowly crept up until it spiked to a new peak at $4.43.

Many Americans blame President Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline as to why gas prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks, and others blame the global ban of Russian oil exports.

The main reason gas prices have exploded however, was the result of a collection of reasons.

First and foremost, the Russo-Ukrainian War has certainly affected the global oil supply. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine prompted world leaders to ban or drastically slow down the import and export of all Russian goods, including crude oil and natural gas.

Russian oil makes up a small but not insignificant portion of American gas imports, and nearly all of Europe’s gas comes from Russia. This has caused the global supply of oil to decrease while demand remains the same.

Another reason for high gas prices is the lingering effects of the original COVID-19 shutdown. As the pandemic began, most Americans remained in their homes and limited how much they were driving, directly using less gas.

Oil extractors and refineries greatly cut back on production to compensate for the lessened demand. Even as demand for gas has begun to return to pre-pandemic levels, oil production has not managed to recover as quickly.

Oil producers have not managed to reintroduce refineries as fast as demand has recovered and as such demand has increased while supply has decreased.

Other factors that should still be taken into consideration are inflation and a spring demand increase. The price of gas has risen in line with inflation, on its own not drastic enough to cause many woes at the pump, but paired with other factors it only exacerbates prices.

A similar problem comes from a spring driving increase. As winter ends and more people are getting out, the prices will rise to meet a slightly higher demand.

A common criticism of President Biden in the current oil crisis is his cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. Proponents say the pipeline from Canada would have made gas cheaper long-term and most crucially during our current crisis.

Unfortunately, the pipeline wouldn’t have been able to help, even if construction wasn’t cancelled by President Biden. Estimates put the pipelines date of completion sometime in 2023 or even farther out; unable to help alleviate high prices as of right now.

The government is going to attempt different strategies to combat high prices, though most haven’t gone into effect.

Most notably President Biden is in talks with Venezuela to end the United States embargo on Venezuelan oil to replace Russian oil.

Several state governments have attempted to combat high prices by cancelling taxes on gasoline sales for a time.

The government has also encouraged oil companies to increase drilling as much as possible.

Sources:

CBS

Fox 5

PBS

New York Post

AP News