WTI now up even more and trading above $110.00. I dont see any light in the end of the tunnel that will cause the price to go down, OPEC does not seem to want to boost beyond what they have already settled on and that is a plan for the entire year. Paid 3.10 last night in Houston area, if it continues to get higher.... well everyone knows nobody wants to pay more at the pump, but I remember when it was close to 4.00 and nobody wants that, would be close to $100.00 to fill up my F150. Hopefully we get some downward pressure on the price from something, unfortunately it looks like the pressure will be upwards for the short term. Also - Petroleum reserve release promises not giving and downward pressure. Also - OPEC not budging, wish Trump would have pushed NO-PEC harder, I actually liked the idea.
Another thing interesting to note is the spot price per gallon of gasoline is 3.35 a gallon today, expect to start hearing more and more people complaining about the cost of fuel. Lots of psychological factors when oil goes over $100 a barrel and when people start seeing the cost to fill up their tank $100+. This is going to be a boon for electric vehicles as long as the price is inflated at these levels. Opec+ officially not helping alleviate this, stuck until their next meeting.
Running around $3.30ish give or take here right now. The only relief will be if Uncle Joe incentivizes frackers to frack baby frack which he won't because it would cause Greta to publicly shame him on twitter.
They are trying little things like releasing strategic reserves but its not enough to provide downward pressure, its really up to OPEC and it might just stabilize the price where it is at once they decide to boost output beyond what they have already agreed to. Its a democratic administration, so expect to hear a lot more about electric vehicles when the topic is brought up in the media instead of domestic production increases (Fracking is ramping up tho btw). Although all energy costs are increasing, you will see it on an electric bill at some point as well.
The Sam's gas station was absolutely slammed today; lines backed up into the main store parking lot. Only when a hurricane is approaching have I ever seen it that bad.
We have pretty strong environmental regulations, I'm not talking about pulling them back to the point of having smog again, but the EPA regulations can be temporarily pulled back which would make more blendstocks available for use in gasoline. Even slight changes to sulfur like moving the limit from 80 ppm to 100 ppm which would not be noticeable, or waving some vapor pressure rules might have a bigger effect than people realize. Remember, summer itself has an upward pressure on prices in itself, more demand and you cant cheap dump light end blendstock into the fuel like you can in the winter(to high vapor pressure in the summer can cause vapor lock, but the rules can be relaxed slightly which would help).
Psychological effects of that will be bad for the economy. $100+ dollars a tank easy, you cut back other things considering you have to buy the fuel.
We have seen it with the most recent electric bills locally. It was very mild weather wise but mine jumped $50 this time from the month before that wasn't as mild. My sister said hers doubled but hers is much smaller than mine anyway. Ever since I got my bill I have been militant about turning off lights LOL. I am fortunate on the auto side though for the most part. My car is averaging 34ish m/gal and I only live about 6 miles from work. Depending which way I come and go, I can incorporate all the regular must haves/must do's within that route. Even when I have to hit the big boxes, it only adds a mile or two to the trips depending which one I am going to. They can talk talk talk all they want about electric cars but they are extremely impractical in most places and far outside what most people are willing or able to pay for them. At $100K-$150K per charging station and most of the stations being in California and around a few big cities outside of California, we have a very long way to go to get there.
And the cost to move goods and service will increase, on top of the already growing inflation. This is a hyper situation that could turn bad very quickly, sending many western economies into the toilet. We honestly should be working to flood the market with various energies to put a stop to at least an energy crisis. Granted... what was it that Rahm Emanual said?
