Weeks after President Joe Biden said his policy would lead to lower Gas Prices, an industry expert said Americans should brace for paying more at the pump.
Gasoline futures have risen 30 cents in the past week âwhich is just bad news for the consumer,â said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, according to Fox Business.
As of Wednesday, the average price for a gallon of gas was $4.11, according to AAA, up three cents from Monday.
Lipow said that even though many states are chipping away at gasoline taxes, the national average price for gas is heading for somewhere between $4.15 and $4.20 per gallon.
Lipow noted that ripple effects of Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine continue to roil the gasoline market.
That is an invasion that did not have to happen, many have noted.
Bidenâs âweakness and misplays have brought about an unthinkable and tragic invasion,â John Feehery, a former communications director and speechwriter for major congressional Republican leaders, wrote in a commentary piece published by The Hill in March.
In a commentary piece for Newsweek, titled âHow a Weak Biden, Capitulating to the Green Left, Enabled Putinâs Invasion,â conservative podcast host Dan Holloway wrote that energy dependence on Russia, particularly in Europe, tempered any effort to strongly head off Russiaâs invasion before it began.
âMaybe, just maybe, the West shouldnât have outsourced its energy strategy to a dictator from another country, someone they all claim to have known was a dictator. What was the plan exactly? To lure Russia into being nice by giving them all this power over the West while cutting off our own ability to supply energy to ourselves and others?â Holloway wrote.
But the damage is now done, Lipow told Fox Business, and Americans will pay for it at the pump.
He cited comments from the secretary OPEC earlier this month that OPEC members and other global oil producers could not replace Russian oil, and reports that the âEU is considering adopting a phased-in ban on the purchase of Russian oil and gas.â
Lipow said that in 2021, Russia shipped over 4 million barrels of oil per day to Europe and had sent 700,000 barrels of oil per day to the U.S.
âHow does the world come up with nearly 5 million barrels per day of alternate supplies if the European Union were to ban all Russian oil imports? Lipow said. âIt simply canât do it today.â
Even now, two months into Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine, European nations make up the largest customers for Russian oil and natural gas, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
In March, Biden said that releasing a million barrels of oil a day from the nationâs strategic petroleum reserve for six months would do the trick, according to AP report at the time.
He said because of the action, gas prices could drop âanything from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon.â
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.