Gas Prices Now at $5 a Gallon Average, $6.40 in California

[dfrecore]

But really, let's look at supply and demand.  Just a year ago, we were energy-independent, and an oil exporter.  We were producing enough oil in this country to provide everyone with it, inexpensively.  Prices were extremely low (it was $1.62 when we moved to SC in July 2020).  The new administration shut down the Keystone pipeline, and made it impossible for oil/gas companies to plan ahead and invest in continued production.  You don't want to spend billions on an infrastructure that someone can shut down on a whim.  So, gas prices immediately went up.  We now are back to being an oil/gas importer, because we aren't producing enough for our own citizens.  We've become hostages to OPEC and the Saudis and freaking Venezuela.

Do you have sources? Because I do.

The Keystone Pipeline was never shut down. It's still running today, bringing oil from Canada (not the US!) to refineries across the US.
 
What was shut down was a planned expansion (never built) of the pipeline that would have brought more oil (from Canada) to the gulf coast refineries quicker, and that refined oil would then be (mostly) exported overseas.

The US was briefly a net exporter of oil in 2020 and 2021. Right now, we import the majority of our oil from Canada. 4.34 million barrels/day from Canada, 0.96 from OPEC, 0.69 from the rest of the Persian Gulf, 0.43 from all others. Sorry, 0.96 million barrels/day from OPEC (mostly Saudi Arabia), and 0.69 from all Persian Gulf countries (including 5 OPEC countries). So there's overlap there.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-...xports.php

We implemented sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, and in 2021 we imported no oil from them.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/...7e32d42e7c

So when you shut down a planned expansion, all other investments will come to a standstill, because they can't count on their investment paying off.  If your city put a halt on all new construction of houses one day, you would not run out and buy a piece of land and think "I'm SURE that when I'm ready to build a house, everything will be just fine." No, you would be very wary of investing, because you couldn't be sure that you could count on your plans coming to fruition.  That's what oil companies in the US are doing now; holding back on any kind of investment.

And I did mention that oil is a global commodity.  So the market is not just set here by US companies.

Also, we are trying very hard to get Venezuela and other countries to give us oil.  I will point to some non-conservative websites here: 
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusi...022-03-09/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/08/politics/...index.html

[Pats20]

What I’d give for a mean tweet and $2 gas prices right now.

[Alpha]

I'm sure there are many people who understand the economics of this problem better than I do but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion.  I believe that there is enough blame in this matter to cover all the parties that have manipulative power in this issue.  I'm also certain that there a group of people, perhaps sprinkled around the world, who are getting rich(er) with our money.

[LevelUP]

President Biden calls on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for 90 days

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/22/presiden...-days.html

[Stacie]

One of the few good things about the university I'm attending is their student pass for public transportation. I can get just about anywhere for free.

[ashkir]

There are over 5000 permits for more drilling in my area where I live. The oil companies haven't drilled a single well in two years in my area. The local oil companies here (including one nationally recognized one) has just posted their highest profit in their history, with almost 3x their normal year.