It’s no secret that gas prices in the United States have been at an all-time high for the past year, but many Americans have recently noticed that costs per gallon have fallen in the last couple of weeks. About a year ago, when the earliest signs of inflation were , people across the nation were aghast by gas prices hiking up so rapidly. Now, the national average has dropped to $3.33 per gallon, according to AAA.
While many are pleasantly surprised by this adjustment, Americans are still hyper aware that cost reductions are a direct response to a global recession. The Biden administration has announced its efforts to contain costs by moving forward with a SPR sale to contribute to assist the depleting global market. President Biden himself has also criticized major energy companies for profiting off rising petroleum prices and has threatened to commence a new windfall profits tax if this continues to be an issue.
Declining gas prices may seem like positive news to most but data still shows that some states are still exhibiting higher than average costs. For example, the average price per pump in California is about $4.60, which is well above the national average. This is an issue considering that California contains two major metropolitan cities that are heavily reliant on automobile commutes.
People are also anticipating that this drop could only be temporary since there has been an ongoing trend showing that prices hike back up at the start of a new year. Plus with the war between Russia and Ukraine cutting down production, there could soon be a lack of oil supplies overall. Experts are expecting oil prices will escalate if Russian exports fail.
All in all, the future of gas and other global export pricing is unclear with this ongoing recession taking the world by storm.
JULIE KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
