The average national cost for a gallon of gasoline is $4.17. Many have blamed the Russia-Ukraine war, but some say it is not that simple.
Dr. Marc J. Defant, who is a professor of geology/geochemistry at the University of South Florida, worked for Schlumberger Well Services and Shell oil for three years, with two years at Shell working as an exploration geologist. He recently joined Quoth the Raven’s podcast to provide insight into President Biden’s “crazy” oil policies that are potentially creating more turmoil than helping in markets.
“Gas was up 40% and oil was up 80% before the Ukrainian was started,” said Dr. Defant, referring to how oil got so high to begin with. “What got me a little incensed was that Biden is going around saying the price of gasoline is due to Putin. It’s kind of an outrageous lie. Most of [what’s pushing prices up] is totally unrelated to the war in Ukraine.”
Dr. Defant stated that there was so much oil and nowhere to put it when oil prices crashed several years ago.
The professor went on to explain that experts are saying that right now, the average family in America can expect to pay an extra $5,200 because of the rise in oil prices. He said that Biden is not taking the necessary steps to mitigate the problem.
“Biden is literally destroying the U.S. economy trying to get to net-zero pollution,” Dr. Defant explained. “I consider myself an environmentalist, but not a radical environmentalist. I think we do have global warming.”
Russia is among the world’s largest oil and gas producers, with about a 12% market share. The U.S. imports around 3.5% of its oil from Russian daily to make gasoline. But on March 8, President Joe Biden gave a public statement declaring a ban on Russian oil imports to reduce the economic resources available for Russia to fund the war.
Since Russia’s fuel revenue accounts for more than a third of its federal budget, limiting the country’s ability to export oil would severely impact its bottom line and could ultimately force them to pull out of the war. “We will no longer accept Russian oil and gas energy imports,” said President Biden.
In response to rising prices, the U.S. is looking to improve relations with Venezuela to enable oil imports and limit the impacts of high prices. Joe Biden’s administration has also considered restoring the Iran nuclear deal, previously suspended by President Trump.