Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
With the drop in international oil prices, drivers, and the United States government, are anxiously awaiting the price of the gasoline also goes down; however, there are factors that, on the contrary, could make fuel even more expensive.
This week, oil prices fell below the $100 dollars from a maximum of $130.50 dollars that West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the benchmark in the country, reached last week.
With the drop in the international price of oil, Americans expected to see prices drop at the pump. But it has not been that way.
The price of gasoline had only a slight respite in the national average cost compared to last week, but only a few cents.
On Friday of last week, the national average price hit a record high of $4.50 dollars per gallon, a minimal decrease compared to the $4.28 dollars which marks the national average this Thursday, according to AAA.
But in states like California, drivers do not see the light at the end of the tunnel, with average prices reaching up to $5.50 dollars per gallon.
While the gasoline prices stabilize, Americans are looking for some actions and tips to save gasoline.
Why doesn’t the price of gasoline go down
For the spokesperson of Gasbuddy Finance, Robert Sinclair Jr., there are factors ranging from the weather, to the conflict in Ukraine, that will keep gasoline prices through the roof.
One that is inevitable and will have a negative effect on pockets is the weather, “it is say, the summer blends of gasoline,” he explained in an interview for Yahoo! Finance.
As the temperature increases and summer arrives in the country, producers must reformulate their gasoline to avoid excessive evaporation.
Perhaps few motorists know this, but these summer blends are more expensive to obtain due to a more complex refining process, in addition to being more expensive to distribute.
Of course, adds the GasBuddy expert, all these costs are inevitably transferred to the price that consumers pay every time they go to the station to recharge the tanks of their vehicles.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict will keep prices high
But this is not the only factor that will keep prices high. Experts believe that as long as the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine persists, prices will not fall.
While the war continues and the oil market remains unstable, prices will not give pockets a break. According to the CNet site, for every $10 dollars that the cost of a barrel goes up, about a is added % at the price of gasoline that consumers pay.
But there is a scenario that will make everything more complex, according to Bjørnar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at Rystad Energy.
The expert considers that, if more countries join the sanctions that the United States imposed on Russian crude oil exports, or the partial prohibitions of the United Kingdom and the European Union, on refined products and gas, the world oil price could skyrocket.
Tonhaugen estimates that if sanctions against Russian oil are extended to more countries, the international price of a barrel of crude oil could reach up to $240 dollars for the summer.
“It would create a hole of 4.3 million barrels per day in the market that simply cannot be quickly replaced by other sources of supply, “said Tonhaugen, in a CNet report.
In a scenario like the one stated, the national average price of a gallon of gasoline could reach $5.84.
For now, the ceiling that the specialists set is $4.50 for the national average price, as the next milestone to watch out for.
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