Gas Prices Drop Two Weeks in a Row, and Now E15 Gas Will Be Allowed over Summer

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A month ago, the average daily gas price was $4.326. Today, it’s $4.098. COVID, war, and actions taken by President Biden all affected the rise and now the fall.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine helped push prices up in late February and some of March, while recent lockdowns in China have curbed demand this month.Biden released millions of gallons from the nation’s strategic oil reserve late last month and today announced that ethanol would be allowed to be sold over the summer, when it is usually banned for environmental reasons.

After setting new record highs in early March, gas prices in the U.S. have continuously declined over the last two weeks across the country in what has become the longest streak of falling prices since September 2020.

Today’s average is $4.098 per gallon, according to AAA, down from $4.114 yesterday and $4.326 a month ago. AAA says the main reason for the decline is the fluctuating price of a barrel of oil, which climbed sharply in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. The market price of a barrel peaked at $123.70 in early March. Yesterday, it closed at $94.29, according to Markets Insider. AAA said that “Pump prices will likely face downward pressure if oil prices remain below $100 per barrel.”

One reason for the decline is the release of up to 180 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserves over the next six months. President Biden made the decision at the end of March to release a million barrels each day, blunting the impact of the U.S.’s choice to stop importing Russian oil. Russian imports are down about three million barrels a day, according to the New York Times. Slowing demand from China because of strict COVID lockdowns is also lowering the price of oil, according to Bloomberg.

“Our prices are rising because of [Russian President] Putin’s action,”Biden said when he announced the million-barrel-a-day release. “There isn’t enough supply. And the bottom line is if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now.”

Tuesday, Biden announced another move to lower prices: temporarily allowing E15 gasoline to be added to the fuel supply this summer. Ethanol can create more smog than non-ethanol gasoline, especially in warmer summer months. In normal years—remember those?—the blend of 85 percent petroleum gasoline and 15 percent ethanol cannot be sold between June and September.

Even with the recent drop in gas prices, many people are feeling the effects of prices that are much higher than a year ago, when it was just $2.863, according to AAA. In our politicized world, some consumers are looking for someone to blame. That was the story of a man in Pennsylvania who was arrested March 31 for putting stickers depicting President Biden that read “I did that” onto pumps near the screen that shows the price per gallon. In a video posted online taken during his arrest, he is quoted as stating, “I did that. I did that. That’s what I did.” The man was charged with summary offenses of disorderly conduct, harassment, and criminal mischief, according to Lancaster Online. Fox News notes that online sellers of these stickers have seen demand quadruple in the past month. If Biden’s actions continue to bring about lower prices, the same stickers could soon be sending a very different message to drivers.

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