“U.S. gasoline prices surged to another fresh record, the latest blow to motorists heading into the summer driving season,” Bloomberg reports.
“Average retail prices in the U.S. reached $4.619 per gallon as of Monday, according to the latest data from the American Automobile Association. That’s up from $4.178 a gallon a month ago and is about 52% higher than a year earlier.”
“European Union countries finally reached a deal to wean themselves off Russian oil, their most significant effort yet to hit the Russian economy over the war in Ukraine, although the impact will be softened by an exemption for pipeline oil, a concession to landlocked holdouts, notably Hungary,” the Washington Post reports.
“Oil prices rose to their highest level in more than two months Monday, driven by China’s tentative emergence from Covid-19 shutdowns,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The twin prospect of rising oil demand in Asia and curbed supplies out of Russia pushed benchmark Brent-crude prices for July delivery up 1.9% to $121.67 a barrel. That is their highest level since early March. Since then, falling fuel consumption in China has tamed global demand and pulled crude prices down from their 2022 highs of about $139 a barrel.”
New York Times: “The price for regular gasoline in California has already risen to more than $6 a gallon, and it is virtually impossible to find gas for under $4 anywhere else. Nationwide, prices have risen by nearly 50 cents a gallon over the last month.”
“The war in Ukraine is the most immediate cause for the jump in prices as global refiners, tanker companies and traders shun Russian exports, forcing up to three million barrels of oil a day off the market. Energy traders have also bid up oil prices in the expectation that Western governments will impose even tougher sanctions on Russia and its energy industry.”
“But another reason for the high prices is that, despite them, motorists have not done much to burn a lot less gasoline.”
Bloomberg: “Global power grids are about to face their biggest test in decades with electricity generation strangled in the world’s largest economies.”
“War. Drought. Production shortages. Historically low inventories. And pandemic backlash. Energy markets across the planet have been put through the wringer over the past year, and consumers have suffered the consequences of soaring prices. But, somehow, things are on track to get even worse.”
“Russia will cut natural gas supplies to Finland on Saturday, the latest salvo in a growing confrontation between the two countries over the war in Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“Gasoline pump prices have risen above $4 a gallon in all states in the US for the first time ever as the last holdouts — Kansas, Oklahoma and Georgia — saw prices rise overnight,” Bloomberg reports.
Gasoline prices hit a new record on Tuesday just as Americans are entering peak summer driving season, CBS News reports.
The national average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.37, eclipsing a previous record set in early March.
“The Biden administration plans to seek bids this fall to buy 60 million barrels of crude oil as the first step in a years-long process aimed at replenishing America’s emergency oil reserve,” CNN reports.
“This would mark the first time since the early 2000s that the Energy Department has acquired large quantities of oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency supply of oil on the planet.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) pushed back on President Biden’s proposal to expand the tax credit for electric-vehicles, calling the idea “ludicrous” and adding a new obstacle to White House plans for fighting climate change, Bloomberg reports.
Said Manchin: “There is a waiting list for EVs right now, with the fuel prices, but they still want us to throw a $5,000, or $7,000 or $12,000 credit for us to buy electric vehicles.”
He added: “When we can’t produce enough product for the people that want it and we’re still going to pay them to take it — it’s absolutely ludicrous in my mind.”
“Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. oil companies, on Friday reported a second consecutive quarter of robust earnings as oil and natural gas prices continued to rise after the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“Germany is now ready to stop buying Russian oil, clearing the way for a European Union ban on crude imports from Russia,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The German shift increases the likelihood that EU countries will agree on a phased-in embargo on Russian oil, with a decision possible as soon as next week… However, how quickly the bloc ends its Russian oil purchases, and whether it also uses measures such as price caps or tariffs, is still being negotiated. The U.S. is pressing its European allies to avoid steps that could lead to a protracted increase in oil prices.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw cold water on the idea of a national gas tax holiday, which some vulnerable House Democrats have embraced, Politico reports.
Said Pelosi: “There has been some interest in the holiday. The pros of it are that it’s good PR — you’re asking about it. The cons are that there’s no guarantee that the reduction in the federal tax would be passed on to the consumer. We have no evidence to think that the oil companies would pass that on to the consumer.”
“Top congressional Democrats are exploring new proposals to suspend the gas tax and penalize giant energy corporations, hoping to lower prices as part of a broader effort to blunt the financial and political fallout from soaring inflation,” the Washington Post reports.
“Some in the party even are pushing to adopt the bills before Memorial Day weekend, a travel-heavy holiday that marks the beginning of summer. But they face an uphill battle, particularly in the Senate, where Republicans have exhibited little appetite for teaming up with Democrats and taking aim at the energy industry.”
Sara Goddard offers 15 smart ways to reduce your energy use — while taking control of your soaring gas bills and helping the environment.
“Infuriated by the West’s supply of arms and other support to help Ukraine resist invading Russian troops, Moscow on Tuesday took the fight to Europe’s economy, telling Poland and Bulgaria that it was halting supplies of natural gas, on which both countries and Europe in general are heavily dependent,” the New York Times reports.
“A decision by Russia’s energy behemoth Gazprom to cut off gas supplies to two countries that are both members of NATO and the European Union marks the first time that Moscow has directly and openly targeted Europe with its energy weapon. The move upends assurances by Moscow since the Soviet era that, no matter what the political climate, Russia could be counted on as a reliable supplier of natural gas.”
Washington Post: Russia accused of ‘gas blackmailing’ after cutting off Poland, Bulgaria.
Washington Post: “The new rules, which reverse a Trump-era policy, expand energy-efficiency requirements to more types of lightbulbs and ban the sale of those that produce less than 45 lumens per watt — a measure of how much light is emitted for each unit of electricity. This will eventually prohibit most incandescent and halogen lightbulbs and shift the country toward more efficient and compact fluorescent and LED bulbs.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “is exploring an energy and climate package aimed at winning enough Republican support to skirt the partisan budget reconciliation process that has held hostage hundreds of billions of dollars in potential spending on related priorities,” Bloomberg reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
More about Taegan Goddard →