Biden Must Stop Playing Politics With The Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Oil and gasoline prices are rising now, just in time to become an issue for the 2024 presidential election campaign.

The U.S. domestic price for West Texas Intermediate topped $86 per barrel in Friday trading, while the international Brent index briefly hit $91 before dropping slightly below that level.

These are the highest prices for crude oil recorded since last October, and they are also impacting the price for gas at the pump in the U.S. AAA reports that the average price for a gallon of regular gas is at a 2024 high of $3.58. OilPrice.com reported Friday that the wholesale gas price stood at $2.79, up 78 cents since the first of the year, a 35% increase across the first 95 days of 2024.

Gas prices at the pump always rise to some extent this time of year as refiners must make the change over from manufacturing winter blends of fuels to summer blends to be in compliance with EPA haze-reduction regulations. March and April are also times when many refineries temporarily go offline for periodic maintenance and repairs, and the combination of these two activities adds to refining and distribution costs that get rolled into retail gasoline prices.