Many of us have seen the rise in gas prices at the pump and unfortunately for all of us, there’s no break in our foreseeable future.
According to gas buddy petroleum analysis, there are 2 major factors for this increase. One being the artic blast at the end of last year that swept the nation all the way down to Texas shutting down a lot of oil refineries. Although refineries are exposed to outside elements, the bitter cold wreaked havoc to anything outside.
Patrick De Haan, “It caused a lot of process upsets or issues at refineries all the way down into Texas, and so that kind of started the increase in the wholesale price of gasoline because we had millions of barrels of refining capacity that got pushed off on because of the cold weather.
De Haan says the other factor comes from China lifting their mask mandate and reopening their economy. He says China is the largest oil importer in the world and their return to market will continue to have a huge impact on supply and demand.