Old North News

Gas prices across the country continued to fall again over the past week, lowering the amount of pain at the pump, but Americans are still paying a premium to keep their cars fueled. 

The Gasoline Misery Index on gasmiseryindex.com tracks how much more (or less) the average American consumer will have to spend on gasoline on an annualized basis. At North Carolina's average price of $4.09 per gallon, Friday's Index for the state came in at $744. 

“Global economic headwinds are pushing oil prices lower and less expensive oil leads to lower pump prices,” American Automobile Association (AAA) spokesperson Andrew Gross said in a release. “And here at home, people are fueling up less, despite this being the height of the traditional summer driving season. These two key factors are behind the recent drop in pump prices.” 

The pairing of a decline in crude oil prices and lower demand for gas in America are the major factors driving down the price of gasoline, Although North Carolina's average price per gallon has dropped from about $5 per gallon to $4.09, the cost is still $1.19 higher than a year ago. 

AAA reported Thursday that according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand edged up to 8.52 million b/d last week compared to 8.06 million b/d a week earlier. Yet, the rate is 800,000 b/d lower than last year and is in line with demand during the middle of July 2020, when COVID-19 measures curbed demand. As long as these supply/demand dynamics hold, AAA predicts drivers will continue to see a temporary relief in pump prices. 

When prices were on their way to record highs, President Joe Biden at the end of March announced that the country would draw from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) of crude oil. That was put forth as a way to reduce gas prices for Americans. Numbers show that since the release, the president has reduced the SPR by nearly 85 million barrels of our country's emergency oil. 

Whether the release is actually leading to lower prices is debatable.

"Beginning his first day in office, President Biden has been hamstringing fossil fuel producers,” Mark R. Robeck, deputy general counsel for energy policy at the U.S. Department of Energy, pointed out in a RealClear Energy article. "The administration canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, suspended new offshore lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf, reduced acreage available for federal leasing and imposed burdensome regulations on new energy production and infrastructure." 

Robeck’s assessment is that Biden's 180 million barrel release from the SPR "only reduces national security, but not gasoline prices.” 

The Gasoline Misery Index tracks how much more (or less) the average American consumer is paying for gasoline on an annualized basis. It is compiled by using gas price data from the AAA, average fuel efficiency (mpg) data from the U.S. Department of Energy and average miles driven from MetroMile.com. The index tracks the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline and adjusts using the average miles traveled by the average miles per gallon of American cars. 

EIA figures show that in January 2021, the national average price per gallon of gasoline was $2.33. That means prices have increased 89.3% since then. When comparing today’s cost to that of January 2021, gasmiseryindex.com computes what it calls the Biden Misery Index, which shows that Americans are spending an average of $1,092 more per year on gasoline today since the president entered office.