Analyst on why gas prices are so high

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

There is a lot of finger-pointing about who's to blame for the high gasoline prices.

Republicans blame the Biden administration while Democrats say the oil companies are price-gouging. Analyst Severin Borenstein of Berkeley's Energy Institute told CBS News the root of the problem is more complex.

"Most of the increase has come from crude oil prices going up, and that's because world demand has been coming back quite strongly from the pandemic and supply hasn't caught up," he said. "Even before Russia attacked Ukraine, we were seeing the production of oil lagging. Producers in the United States are reporting they're having a hard time getting workers to come back to the oil fields. They're having supply chain problems with parts and equipment."

Oil companies are benefiting from the spike in prices at the pump. In the first 3 months of the year, Chevron's profits rose 33% over the last three months of 2021. Shell's profits jumped 42% while Conoco Philips is up 43%, and British Petroleum's profits soared 51%.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/analyst-on-why-gas-prices-are-so-high/ar-AAXz8CW

[Beartracks]

1. Republicans just "blame Democrats," but can't explain how or why.

Democrats blame market forces, and can explain the reasoning.

==========

[Skittles]

3. they know they don't need to explain

because they know how stupid and easily manipulated their base is

[Igel]

5. Did you read the OP? n/t

[Thunderbeast]

2. Does any oil industry analyst have an estimate of how profits correlate to price?

What, for example, does the 33% to 51% increase translate to in the price of a gallon of gasoline? How much of my five dollars is returned to stockholders?

[RussBLib]

4. prices here almost equal to Europe

You'd pay $0.08/gallon in Venezuela up to $10.96/gallon in Hong Kong. Venezuela has state-owned oil. USA comes in at $4.66/gallon

interesting chart of prices as of 16 May

https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/

[MichMan]

6. There is a wide disparity in fuel taxes between different countries

That accounts for most of the difference

[Midnight Writer]

7. Love the way phrases like "production of oil lagging" and "Oil companies are benefiting"

are separated in different paragraphs, as if one has nothing to do with the other.

[3Hotdogs]

8. Too few workers and not being able to replace broken parts......

Probably true. An oil company C.E.O. would raise production now to take advantage of the high price of oil if it were possible. Rather than wait for the price to drop and make less money per barrel. This was a scenario with O.P.E.C. Member nations would agree to tamp down production. Prices would rise. One or two members would break the agreement.

or maybe they are waiting for further increases in the price.

[Kid Berwyn]

9. Then there's Putin.

War on Ukraine has crimped the supply hose.

[democratforlife2022]

10. Putin's price hike

Hello fellow comrades! How much longer are we gonna have to be feeling the effects of putin's price hike!

[lj332000]

11. .

" "Even before Russia attacked Ukraine""

Quoted from article.

[GoldandSilver]

12. It's acknowledged there are many reasons for exhorbitant gas prices

but the oil companies are failing to act as responsible global citizens.