High gas prices do not entice
Gas prices in Castro Valley have gone from being around $4.50 to being up to $6 per gallon. This sudden and drastic increase happened right after Russia invaded Ukraine, so many believe that the war led to the new gas prices.
The national gas price average reached $4.43 per gallon recently, compared to only a month ago, when the national average was $3.49.
“We’re one of the biggest oil producers in the world, and we do get oil from Russia, but we’re on contracts with them so we already had a preset price set up of how much we were buying this oil from. So, why are the gas prices so high?” said economics teacher David Roth-Rossi.
Recently, the price of crude oil has returned to around $94 a barrel, compared to the $130 a barrel that it was right after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The US only imports around 10% of its oil from Russia, while the rest comes from other countries and from the U.S. President Biden issued a ban on importing Russia’s oil and gasoline on March 8, so that the US could try to slow down its primary source of revenue.
“I like that we’re not supporting Russia, and it’s worth it to me to pay extra for gas. It’s just a little annoying because I work pretty far so I use a lot of gas,” said senior Brooke Eickmann.
Spikes in the gas prices are especially taking a toll on people who have to commute to work. Many people don’t have other options of getting to their jobs, so driving to work is an unavoidable cost for them. With prices of almost $6 a gallon, driving to work can become expensive extremely quickly.
California has recently introduced a new bill that would require oil refineries to disclose the amount they pay for crude oil, and also disclose their profits. This would show exactly how much gas prices have risen, and also show if this recent increase in gas prices were due to speculation.
“I think the situation is a good example of how speculation really manipulates the markets. If you think about how prices of oil when the war broke out went up all the way to almost $130, and hit a record for the last 15 years, and recently it’s back down like 20-30%, and dropped back down to $94,” said Roth-Rossi.
I like this article since I drive. I relate to it, in which the prices of gas are going up drastically compared to a few months ago. I also agree with Senior Brooke Eickmann that it’s worth it to pay a bit more for gas in order to not support Russia financially.
Gas prices are really affecting a lot of people especially since we live in California where a lot of people rely on it to get to work, school, and other everyday tasks. it is hard to believe that if someone earns minimum wage, one hour of work is barely enough for two gallons of gas. Hopefully they begin to go back down, but if they continue to rise it would be very hard on the economical state of many families.
I think that high gas prices will affect transportation in a way that more people will start to take the bus or walk. The gas prices now are extremely high and a full tank can be around $80 or $90 depending on the car. For the people who work far or travel would have to fill their tank up more often. What about the parents who can barely afford nice things let alone the high prices for gas? It affects everyone terribly and I hope we can bring the gas prices down sooner or later.
It is crazy how much gas prices have risen in the past few months. A lot of people commute to work and therefore have to pay for gas. It hurts especially when you work far from home, and have to pay an outrageous amount of money for a little bit of gas. Hopefully this situation will get better.
I didn’t realize that the events in Ukraine would have this big of an impact. It’s crazy to see the ripple effect that things have even when we feel that we are unaffected.
People have definitely come up with ingenious ways to steal gas due to the rising prices. I am not sure if the prices will lead to riots like the yellow vests in France a few years ago, which I vaguely remember had to do with gas prices. It most likely will not end with riots since America has shown a sense of solidarity for Ukrainians in this conflict and probably would see the gas prices as a small burden to bear for condemning Russia.