Oil Is Up, Gas Isn’t

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Mar 28, 10:49AM EDT

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Oil Is Up, Gas Isn’t — © Koonsiri Boonnak / iStock via Getty Images

Oil prices continue their climb well above $100 a barrel, more than a decade since the price last moved above that level. Fortunately, gasoline prices, already high, have held steady in the past several days. The respite may be temporary. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy pointed out: “While the national average should start to stabilize for the time being, there’s no telling what’s around the corner, at least for now, as the volatility in oil prices persists.”

Recently, the average price for a gallon of regular nationwide was $4.23, up by $1.38 per gallon from a year ago. Oil prices have lingered around $115 a barrel. There are hopes OPEC will increase production soon, which may take some pressure off the supply problem.

The primary trigger of the price increase may remain the same for months. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many nations said they would no longer import Russian crude. The decision is a difficult one for much of Europe, including the United Kingdom, because they use so much Russian crude. These countries have tried to forge bonds with nations in the Gulf area in the hope of increasing supply.

The U.S. effort to help alleviate high oil prices falls into two categories. One is greater export of U.S. crude to Europe. The other is far more difficult. U.S. officials have discussed getting oil from Venezuela, one of the world’s largest producers. However, America has sanctioned the South American country for human rights abuses.
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Gas prices may drop for a reason that has nothing to do with oil. Many states have gas taxes of over $0.25 a gallon. Governors and state legislators in some of the states have discussed a temporary cut of these taxes to zero. While politically popular, the decision will cut into state revenue receipts and could increase state budget deficits.

If the Russia export problem worsens, there is no ready solution to keep the price of crude from rising further.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.