By Casey Harper (The Center Square)
International oil producers are planning to cut oil production, meaning gas prices will likely begin rising immediately as Democrats block Republican efforts to increase domestic oil and gas energy production.
OPEC+ announced Sunday a cut in oil production to the surprise of many who speculate prices could rise significantly as a result. Last summer, regular gas prices set new records, surpassing $5 per gallon on average.
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Gas prices are already on the rise this year. According to AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.51, up from $3.44 a week ago and $3.39 one month ago.
Energy prices overall have soared since President Joe Biden took office, in part because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but also because of Biden’s work to discourage domestic oil and gas investment and production.
“Only a few short years ago foreign governments were unable to use energy as a weapon against the United States,” Daniel Turner, executive director of the energy workers advocacy group Power the Future, told The Center Square. “Then Joe Biden came along and made OPEC great again. Just last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill to put America back on the road to energy independence and it’s clear OPEC was paying attention. The Senate should pass H.R. 1 immediately and President Biden finally needs to put politics aside and unleash the power of American energy. Otherwise the high prices of food, utilities, and food will continue to punish the American people.”
Citing Biden’s role in cost increases, House Republicans passed the “Lower Energy Costs Act” last week. House Democrats opposed the bill, which is unlikely to get traction in the Senate.
“Under H.R. 1, America and our allies won’t be forced to rely on Russian natural gas, which is 41 percent dirtier than American natural gas,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a speech after the bill’s passage. “If we had replaced Russian natural gas in Europe for just one year, we would have reduced C02 emissions by 218 million tons.”
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Experts say gas price increases are not a sure thing.
“Whether OPEC’s announced production cuts raise prices depends on whether global demand for oil holds up,” Myron Ebell, an energy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told The Center Square. “It seems to me that OPEC are guessing that the global economy is slowing down or even moving into recession, in which case demand will go down. By cutting production, they are trying to stay a step ahead of lower demand and avoid the collapse in oil prices that has happened in past economic downturns.
Ebell said Biden’s policies have empowered OPEC to have more control over the global market, including the U.S.
“The shale oil and gas revolution and the Trump deregulatory agenda made the U. S. the world’s top oil and natural gas producer and thereby lessened OPEC’s power to control the global oil market,” he said. “President Biden’s policies to constrain U. S. production and scare away investment in new production are empowering OPEC once again. To what extent remains to be seen.”
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
Biden is Xi’s bought and paid for puppet. The whole Democrat Cosa Nostra deserve to die in prison. let’s make it happen.
the entire Biden Regime should be in prison.
I wonder where McCarthy gets his figures from, but a saving of 218 million tons of “CO2” by using “41% cleaner” American Natural Gas just does not equate scientifically ! “Dirty” natural gas still burns ( oxydises ) creating CO2 at the same rate as “Clean American Natural Gas” – it just produces more by-products many of which are themselves toxins, but that does not equate to the “DREADFUL PLANET DESTROYING Carbon Dioxide” which we ALL exhale in our breaths like it or not and which almost every green plant needs to thrive !
Nil Carborundum Illegitemi !
Let them do it! A lot of people might hate Trump, but they hate higher gas prices even more. All the Republicans can do/say is that the Democrats did it. AND then run on that all summer long.
The Demonrats under orders from the Globalist Banking consortiums want to bring the country to it’s knees. They’ve cut our oil production making us rely on foreign governments to once again power this once great nation, this beacon of hope for most of the world. They are pushing to convert our banking systems to all Digital Currency, once they accomplish this they will control every aspect of our lives, our money, our food, they can tell us what we can buy, how much we can buy, etc. The Globalist want full control of the world, the US is just the top prize !
Gates ! Sorry for using such appalling bad language, but the Davos Dwellers Society are the ones aiming to decimate humanity “To save the planet” ! I wonder where they will get their funding, or indeed what their billions will be capable of purchasing once humanity has been “Reduced” to a level agreeable to THEM ? !
Nil Carborundum Illegitemi !
The Demonrats under orders from the Globalist Banking consortiums want to bring the country to it’s knees. They’ve cut our oil production making us rely on foreign governments to once again power this once great nation, this beacon of hope for most of the world. They are pushing to convert our banking systems to all Digital Currency, once they accom
Democrat politicians want to keep gas prices so high that everyone who is not rich has to rely on them for everything. That’s fascism. When the gubment controls production, the gubment can decide what to charge. They don’t want us to have the right to travel when and where we want. They want to control everything. You stay in your district and I stay in mine. The only time we meet is to fight about the prize. How very Hunger Games of them.
we need energy
Biden knows that ! Why else would he and his Bidenites make sure the Banana Republic of America will always be short of oil and gas – CONTROL – CONTROL – CONTROL Get it yet ?
Nil Carborundum Illegitemi !