Gasoline prices are pushing even farther above $4 a gallon, the highest price that American motorists have faced since July 2008, as calls grow to ban imports of Russian oil.
As a result, President Joe Biden has been criticized heavily for his decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline after being sworn into office last year.
The cost of oil spiked over $120 per barrel on Monday. Oil was about $52 per barrel when Biden first took office.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki went on a social media tirade late Sunday to explain why this wasn’t Biden’s fault.
1. Production is up, rising, and approaching records, yet Russia’s actions still leave our consumers vulnerable. It’s a reminder that real energy security comes from reducing our dependence on fossil fuels
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) March 6, 2022
3. The trendlines also point up. Oil production is up more than 700K b/d from Jan to Dec of last year, and is projected to be up more than 700K b/d from Jan to Dec this year, and to rise nearly 500K b/d to new record over the course of next year.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) March 6, 2022
5. We also know that producers have no shortage of opportunity, nor – after the high profits experienced last year – do they have any shortage of capital.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) March 6, 2022
7. Despite all this, even at this scale, domestic production has not insulated us from the price volatility of fossil fuels or the whims of those who control them, such as President Putin. Americans know that.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) March 6, 2022
9. So as we navigate how to protect Americans and the global community from Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, let’s remember to move past the talking points and ground this discussion in facts.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) March 6, 2022
Talk of a ban on Russian oil has led U.S. officials to consider other sources that are currently limited. In what was supposed to be a secret trip, senior U.S. officials traveled to Venezuela over the weekend to discuss the chance of easing oil sanctions on the major crude-exporting country.
That’s not all. Biden’s White House has recently reached out to a number of dictator-run countries about increased oil production, Republicans said Monday.
"Biden admin looks to oil-rich dictators for help" pic.twitter.com/DeF8LiTlNf
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) March 7, 2022
Inflation had pushed prices at the pump high before Russia invaded Ukraine and the cost for American drivers has spiraled faster since the start of the war.
The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline has soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA.
The price of regular broke $4 a gallon on Sunday for the first time in nearly 14 years and is now up nearly 50% from a year ago.
The price for gasoline in Europe is even higher, averaging 1.75 euros per liter last week, according to the European Commission, the equivalent of $7.21 per gallon.
GasBuddy, which tracks prices down to the service-station level, said Monday that the U.S. was likely to break its record price of $4.10 a gallon, but that does not account for inflation. In today’s terms, the record price would be equal to about $5.24 after accounting for inflation.
“Forget the $4 per gallon mark, the nation will soon set new all-time record highs and we could push closer to a national average of $4.50,” said GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan. “We’ve never been in this situation before, with this level of uncertainty. … Americans will be feeling the pain of the rise in prices for quite some time.”
Oil prices soared early Monday before retreating. In midday trading, benchmark U.S. crude was up 2% to about $118 a barrel, and the international price gained 4% to around $123 a barrel. Major U.S. stock indexes were down about 2%.
The United States is the world’s largest oil producer — ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia — but it is also the biggest oil consumer, and it can’t meet that huge demand with current domestic crude oil production alone. For decades, Democrats have been “kneecapping” domestic oil production projects that would reduce America’s dependence on foreign energy, critics argued.
The U.S. imported 245 million barrels of oil from Russia last year — about 8% of all U.S. oil imports — up from 198 million barrels in 2020. That’s less than the U.S. gets from Canada or Mexico but more than it imported last year from Saudi Arabia.
The increasingly violent Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased calls to cut off Russia from the money it gets from oil and natural gas exports. Europe is heavily dependent on Russian gas.
Biden has been reluctant to ban Russian oil, fearing it could further fuel inflation heading into the midterm elections this November.
Many Republicans and a growing number of Democrats in the House and Senate, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have endorsed banning Russian crude as a way to put more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House hasn’t ruled out a ban.
The Associated Press contributed to this article