(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – U.S. oil production is increasing, but gas prices won’t decrease immediately, despite what Democrats and Republicans want.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in mid-March, the country has started producing 300,000 more barrels of oil per day.
But the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which sparked boycotts of Russian oil, rapidly increased demand for limited supply elsewhere, which ramped up costs and will keep prices high for the near future.
The surging prices have been a political nightmare for the Biden administration, causing the President to repeatedly shift blame, calling the steep prices “Putin’s price hike” and blaming oil producers.
Republicans, however, have been blaming Biden and calling for more domestic production.
When Russian oil was banned, it cut supply by approximately 3 million barrels per day.
Biden, for his part, said the administration would ease the pain at the pump by releasing 1 million barrels per day from the country’s strategic reserves, releasing federal oil leases, and imploring the industry to extract more oil.
But the country has only reached 30 percent of the administration’s promise, meaning that the increase in oil production is unlikely to offset increased demand any time soon.
Patrick de Haan, head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy, pointed to this disparity, saying, “We’re up 300,000 barrels a day, which isn’t bad, but it’s small, especially when you put it in the context of a million barrels per day coming from the [strategic petroleum reserve].”
de Haan continued, stating that, in context, the increase in production is a “good sign, but a small cog in a very big wheel.”
