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

[Jennr2z]

Shell, Exxon and BP don't unilaterally set gas prices, they area also set by international bodies like OPEC.

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.

This was entirely our doing.  Voting has consequences...

Nailed it. And I can definitely blame my state government for at least $1 additional dollar per gallon for added state taxes.... The governor has also decided that its a great time to add on additional gas tax starting July 1st. I paid $6.98 today for diesel, can you guess what state I live in??