Skyrocketing oil & gas prices are rapidly becoming a crisis. Why is this happening? What can we do about it?

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

Are skyrocketing oil & gas prices Joe Biden’s fault?

Gas prices have been rising all year and are really skyrocketing now. Is this Joe Biden’s fault?

NO, and here is why. Biden issued several executive orders when he took office to protect the environment. It is these orders that have been falsely blamed for the rising prices of oil.

Biden stopped issuing NEW leases on federal lands.

Don’t forget that oil companies already have lots of existing leases that they have not even started drilling on yet, not to mention that they can still get new leases on private land. On top of that, oil companies are sitting on a lot of idle wells that are already there.

That means Biden’s new policy really had no affect on oil prices this year. Now, if, in the future, the oil companies start running out of places to drill new wells here in the U.S., then we may need to take a second look at Biden’s restrictions on new federal oil leases. But for now, oil companies have plenty of places to drill for oil.

Biden cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline

The Keystone XL Pipeline was never even started. There is a process companies must go through to obtain permits. Whether that process is proper or not is an argument for another day. For now, that process is the law. Trump illegally issued a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline without following the legal process. The U.S. Supreme Court BLOCKED that project months before the election. Biden had nothing to do with that. When Biden took office, he cancelled the illegally-issued Keystone XL Pipeline permit. He did NOT block the Keystone company from applying for a permit using the proper process. They were, and still are, allowed to do this. But THEY are the ones that decided not to.

But, let’s remember, that the Keystone Pipeline would not have produced ANY oil; it’s just a pipeline that transports oil. Right now, we are still getting that oil by train or truck. Also, the Keystone Pipeline would have imported foreign oil from Canada INTO the U.S. That has nothing to do with making the U.S. energy independent. People keep mentioning all of the “lost jobs” from the cancelling of the project. Well, since the project had never even started, no one actually lost their job. Those who might have gotten a job building will probably get jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. But what no one has mentioned is that if the pipeline had been built, how many truckers would have lost their jobs?

Remember, the free market determines the price of gas and oil. The President cannot dictate prices, nor should he even try. The more oil that is available, the cheaper the prices. Less oil means higher prices.

Are skyrocketing oil & gas prices Donald Trump’s fault?

Gas prices have been rising all year and are really skyrocketing now. Is this Donald Trump’s fault?

NO, it is not.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO GET GAS PRICES DOWN?

Gas prices have been rising all year and are really skyrocketing now. Instead of pointing fingers, what can we do to stop the skyrocketing oil & gas prices?

We either need to increase supply, reduce demand, or both. It’s that simple and that complicated.

Demand increases as our economy recovers and grows. We DON’T want to stop that.

So we need to increase supply. That means either buying more foreign oil, or getting our own oil companies to pump more oil from wells here in the U.S.

TIME IS A FACTOR. We need more oil NOW!

Biden has already released oil from our strategic reserves, but that really is just a drop in the bucket.

Biden has requested that OPEC and other countries up their production. But they are sovereign nations; Biden cannot force them to do anything.

The bottom line is that it is UP TO THE U.S. OIL COMPANIES to ramp up production here in the U.S.

Let’s not forget that Oil Companies make more money when the price of oil is higher. (Duh!) They really don’t have any incentive to fight for lower prices, especially if they have no competition. There are only a few major U.S. Oil Companies. Instead of competing with each other, they have mostly acted together to compete against the foreign markets. THIS HAS TO STOP NOW! It’s time they started competing with each other as well.

THIS IS WHERE WE NEED TO APPLY PUBLIC PRESSURE. Let’s remind them that they are NOT monopolies, and should stop acting that way. We broke up Standard Oil 100 years ago. We can do it again. Remember Teddy Roosevelt?

Oil companies are sitting on a lot of idle wells that are already there. Restarting idle wells takes some time, but not as much as drilling new wells. Oil companies SHOULD be doing that NOW. President Biden MIGHT have the authority to order them to restart those wells under his Emergency Authority during a national crisis. I am not sure if this qualifies. (This is the authority both Trump and Biden used to order manufacturers to make more medical supplies during COVID.)

Oil companies already have existing but unused federal leases that they can use right now for new wells. Drilling new wells takes more time than restarting existing wells, but they still need to be doing this NOW.

Here is a link to a Wall Street Journal article that explains what U.S. oil companies have been doing over the past decade or so: https://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-price-surge-threatens-u-s-growth-11645709556