SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – The Ukraine invasion brings into focus energy instability, meaning gasoline prices are headed into painful territory, and that’s something President Joe Biden acknowledged Thursday (Feb. 24).
We’d gotten used to low gas prices in Metro Detroit, yet slowly over the past year, they’ve crept up, and now we’re sitting around $3.50 a gallon.
Now, with Vladimir Putin’s latest move, it’s going to make filling up quite painful.
“I’m feeling the gas prices,” said a customer pumping gas.
Unleaded regular gas is $3.59 a gallon on a credit card in Southfield. AAA says that’s nearly $1 a gallon more than this time in 2021.
“(It means having to) work harder and longer,” said another customer pumping gas.
President Biden is doing his best to protect rising prices at the pump.
“My administration is using the tools, every tool to protect American families and businesses from rising prices at the gas pump,” Biden said.
Detroiter Elitha Summersworth says she seeks help from a higher power.
“I budget my money, but I’m praying that it doesn’t affect it too much, but I don’t know,” said Summersworth. “I’ll just keep praying.”
The west Texas barrel price went over $100 overnight before settling down and closing at $93. Oil Price Information Service analyst Denton Cinquegrana said, “I think the second quarter is going to be particularly tough for gas prices for consumers. We’re thinking that we’ll get a brush with $4 nationally.”
One of the looming problems in the United States is that we switch over from winter to summer blends of gasoline blends in the spring which shuts down entire refineries. So as the weather turns, we’re going to see much higher prices.
“I mean maybe one less bottle of wine or one less dinner out because of these gas prices, but it’s horrible what’s happening over there,” said gasoline customer Brian Murphy.
Cinquegrana says the last time we saw prices like this was just before the financial meltdown in 2008. The only good news is that our economy is quite different from those days, and with wage inflation, the impact won’t be nearly as bad as it was then. But let’s face it, it will still get painful.