Since the beginning of the year, prices have steadily increased due to rising demand after life began to go back to normal after the Covid-19 outbreak and an overall decrease in supply. 

On March 11, average national gas prices reached a national high of $4.33 per gallon, according to CBS. The rise in prices has prompted over 59 percent of Americans to change spending habits, according to AAA. The overall price of crude oil went up after 2020, according to the Energy Information administration. This contributed to the higher prices at the pump.

  “We’ve had to start buying more oil from other countries,” senior Ashton Kelley said. “Under Trump, we were buying oil at cheaper prices, but now we’re paying more. We’re not energy independent anymore, we rely too much on other countries to sell us oil at whatever price they want.”

The rising prices of crude oil after 2020 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine exacerbated the issue. The United States, in response, released oil reserves in an attempt to combat the increase in energy prices. Thirty-one members of the International Energy Agency have followed suit with the United States by releasing oil reserves as well.

“We get little oil from Russia. Generally speaking, it’s less than 10 percent. We’re still coming off the Covid period where oil refineries have slowed down their refinery process, so they’re not refining enough gasoline to reach the market,” economics teacher Mr. Dennis Hershberger said. “So it’s a supply and demand issue where you have a lot more demand and less fuel in the market so it’s pushing up the prices. You also have the European crisis due to their dependence on Russian fuel.”

Gas prices have begun to slowly, but steadily, decline due to the slowly declining crude oil prices.