This most recent increase in gas prices is a complete rig job by the oil companies.

Everybody keeps trying to make Biden look bad but each incidence is completely a failure of the private sector.

We need to bring back some kind of regulation. Look at the cost of lax rules. Corporations will exploit and price gouge their consumers without a second thought.

Oil companies are notorious for price gouging. Going into peak consumption seasons (like holidays where lots of people drive more), they always supposedly have "unplanned refinery upgrades" or some such bullshit in an attempt to claim a supply shortage in order to justify dramatic price increases. It is complete bullshit and they need to be much more heavily regulated.

The market is controlled by a price-fixing cartel that can’t be sued under US antitrust law (OPEC).

Isn't there a huge reserve the U.S. has from past fracking that can be brought into the U.S. marketplace to bring down the price?

All the inflation is, it's a political hit job and the worst part is it's working.

Higher oil prices were foreseen by specialists even as they crashed in March 2020 during the global shutdown. Commodities like oil are cyclical. It's a boom-bust business.

When oil price is high, oil companies start chasing production growth to cash in, which ultimately leads to hypergrowth and oversupply, and thus lower commodity price. This causes lower share prices of oil companies and low ROI for investors who then take their money elsewhere - the bust part of the cycle. With the bust we have lower growth, low spare capacity and the commodity price goes higher - which is where we are at now.

Add to that the ESG pressure on oil companies so they start investing in renewables - but those technologies aren't yet able to replace global demand for oil - because oil isn't only gas, it's plastics, it's medicines, it's used everywhere. Your electric car cannot be made without oil products. Now investment funds esp. public funds have ESG mandates and they started divesting from oil which also contributed to higher gas prices.

At the moment US, Canadian companies and OPEC+ aren't rushing to increase drilling so the new boom cycle of growth hasn't started. Apart from government and public funds pressure on ESG, the US/Canadian E&Ps especially have been under pressure by their major shareholders (investment funds) to use the free cash flow from operations to increase return of capital to the shareholders and not for capex growth. Which is why the companies recently started share buybacks and dividend increases instead of investing in growth.

So it's not so simple as a "political hit job", nor drill baby, drill.

Good try OP

It’s a scam. Gas should be about 2.50 with the added issues but even then it’s a dying industry that will collapse all at once when renewables take critical mass.

It’s fine to make a profit but to gouge in these conditions is beyond egregious. People are going hungry so they can buy $5 gas. These oil companies have enough money and pay no taxes. Who pays to clean up their pollution. The whole racket is a scam.

In CA there are taxes and fees of about $1.18 PER GALLON on gas, per a news story this week.

Taxes:

Federal Excise Tax: 18 cents per gallon

State Excise Tax: 51 cents per gallon

Sales Tax (estimated): 10 cents per gallon

Fees: Low Carbon Gas Programs: 22 cents per gallon

Greenhouse Gas Programs: 15 cents per gallon

Underground Tank Storage: 2 cents per gallon

I think a lot of companies are doing this. There is tons of outright robbery by these crooks looking to exploit people during the “supply crunch”. Yet never once has anyone mention stateside manufacturing as a solution.

How much is gas in your area? Some of this is regional.

The oil companies know what markets they can scam and gouge but others they have to watch their moves.

It’s really egregious. They don’t care if single mothers can’t get to work or people patients have to skip their dialysis appointments and possible die because they can’t afford the gouging and profiteering. These oil companies are vultures. They pay nothing for their pollution. And No taxes.

And now all the other companies will start gouging their customers and then blaming the increased oil prices.

All the CEOs vacation together on their yachts and spend all the increased profits on caviar and champaign.

This whole inflation ruse is a scam. Companies are making more money than ever in history. God forbid that trickles down a little and they don’t raise their prices. So what if you make a few less bucks.

But no. They raised the prices on everything to teach us a lesson.

This week in the airline industry will be one huge cluster fuck for airline passengers, especially if the weather doesn't cooperate.

The airlines are simply in this for a huge revenue grab, when they know good and well they don't have the personnel to properly staff these flights. American had a major operations meltdown Halloween weekend, Southwest had a major operations meltdown Columbus Day weekend, and the whole system will probably collapse this week.

The airlines are trying to make up for all the lost revenue in 2020, and are accepting reservations for flights and passengers they know they can't handle. They're banking on only a minority of suckers (i.e. passengers) asking for refunds

…and this is a surprise? Of course, 3rd quarter profits are at an all time high

This is definitely a political hit job. Oil & gas corporations don't like democratic presidents.

They're just trying to make Biden look bad.

Fuck all of them!

Don’t forget about me!

[quote] In 2017, Trump broke with tradition by choosing Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, for his first foreign visit and soon announced a record arms sale to the kingdom. Later, after Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, was brutally dismembered in a Turkish consulate, Trump cast doubt on MBS’s involvement, saying, “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.” After his own CIA director briefed Congress on MBS’s culpability, Trump reportedly boasted about his efforts to protect the crown prince, saying, “I saved his ass.”

[quote] Trump requested that Saudi Arabia and its cartel, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, lower energy prices by increasing output, and the kingdom complied. Prices bottomed out in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, and usage sank to record lows. Prices surged once the pandemic waned and the economy reopened, and this August Biden requested that OPEC again increase output.

[quote] This time MBS refused, angry at having yet to be granted an audience with Biden…

Please inform the public when you hear complaints of inflation and their true cause.

The billionaires, foreign and domestic, who control the oil industry hate any Democratic administration and have a long history of capricious price increases when they're in control. Unfortunately, Americans don't understand the extremely manipulative nature of politics, nor can they figure out just who is doin' the screwin'.

$5.20 a gallon here for supreme which my car requires. Southern CA.

Wow @r21.

The republicans are full blown anti-American.

So when gas does down we thank Biden?

Bookmark this page.

[quote]Go buy a hybrid, cancel your Shell or BP credit cards, walk instead of Lyft for closer distances. Just do anything to push back.

If $3.20 a gallon scandalizes you, just follow OP's advice and spend $35-45,000 on a hybrid car! And cancel your Shell credit card! That should solve everything!

Americans can't fucking be bothered about anything that matters, but if gas prices go up, it's the end of the world.

Why isn’t this common knowledge. Why isn’t this all over Twitter.

The White House needs to get a PAC.

This is such a scam. Ripping off the poorest people in the country. They can not afford these cash grabs by oil companies. This means less presents under the tree.

Why didn’t people on social media being this up when the Walker kid was making a stink about gas prices.

Instead they just got into twitter wars.

Hit these people with the truth. Walker Jr should have been mad at Exxon. Not Biden.

Biden has been trying to get these prices down. He owns the president an apology.

Crazy that they are still this high. It’s robbery.

What’s with republicans trying to blame this on Biden?

The White House is working hard on this but they need help from the American people.

Prices are just now starting to go down. There was the usual holiday increase (because of "demand") but that's over with, and also the formerly very angry Saudis are now just peeved -- or perhaps miffed -- and thanks to Biden and the Senate agreeing to a sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, OPEC has released more oil reserves. They also lowered oil prices in Asia after raising them just a month ago plus have increased total output to pre-COVID levels, a signal that gas prices might continue to drop in the next few weeks.

Here's the article on OPEC:

They are really going for it. Gas prices are through the roof. They are staying high and not budging.

*At least so far.

I’d like to see this as part of the mainstream hit job on Joe Biden.

He doesn’t own the oil companies.

Biden is taking the gloves off today. Enough is enough.

You know they are gouging big time when all the so called “corporate democrats” are calling for all of the oil exec’s heads.

Oil companies are not the only industry doing this.

All the recent mergers and acquisitions have empowered all sectors to go full hog with the price gouging, in the fog of chaos from Covid and beating beating of war.

They ought to be taxed to oblivion.

When people do the lazy/uneducated thing and blame Biden for everything it gives these companies a hiding spot.

Don’t do that.

There is price gouging by the shipping carriers, why wouldn't there be on oil/gas? This has been a historic wealth transfer, from all of us to the New American Oligarchs.

Does it make me superficial if my first takeaway from that letter is that they're using double spaces to start every sentence? I thought that wasn't allowed anymore.