The National average is $4.60 a gallon….
The blme for the high prices is on everything….
The Ukraine conflict….
Refineries….
SUV’s….
American’s driving too much….
Middle men jacking up the price….
Oh, and Americans ain’t gonna stop driving….
All this is NOT helping Joe Biden’s polling numbers….
The price for regular gasoline in California has already risen to more than $6 a gallon, and it is virtually impossible to find gas for under $4 anywhere else. Nationwide, prices have risen by nearly 50 cents a gallon over the last month.
The war in Ukraine is the most immediate cause for the jump in prices as global refiners, tanker companies and traders shun Russian exports, forcing up to three million barrels of oil a day off the market. Energy traders have also bid up oil prices in the expectation that Western governments will impose even tougher sanctions on Russia and its energy industry.
But another reason for the high prices is that, despite them, motorists have not done much to burn a lot less gasoline. Analysts said people appeared to have a robust appetite for hitting the road as the United States recovered from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Fixing the problem would mean people would have to drive less,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service. “But people are saying: ‘I’m sorry, I’ve been in lockdown. I’m taking my vacation this summer.’”
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Friday was $4.60, up from $3.04 a year ago, according to AAA. Airfares, which typically move up and down with jet fuel prices, have risen even faster.
One reason for the climb in prices is that national and global fuel inventories are low. Roughly 3 percent of U.S. refinery capacity was taken off line during the pandemic when oil companies closed older, unprofitable plants as demand shrank. Other refineries around the world were shut down as well.
Gasoline prices are largely determined by the price of oil, and that is set in a global market. Analysts disagree about what happens next, largely because international politics have become so unpredictable. A Russian retreat from Ukraine would immediately send prices down, as would any loosening of Western sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. A Russian escalation would do the opposite….
“I feel terrible,” one gas station owner said of the $7.30 a gallon gas price.
But the prices are based not just on how much the gas costs him to purchase, but also on the location, he said.…
LA Times…..