By: Jim Geraghty – nationalreview.com – April 28, 2022

It isn’t going to get as much attention as this morning’s really bad GDP number, but note that the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline continues to linger at more than $4 per gallon, after hitting the highest-ever recorded average price on March 11, at $4.33, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s the national average; Californians are still paying an average of $5.68 per gallon.

Back on March 31, Biden blamed high gas prices in the U.S. on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. No doubt the Russian invasion exacerbated tensions about the global supply of oil, but the price of gas spiked much earlier; Biden himself acknowledged the runaway cost of filling up your tank back in early November:

We got a higher demand for goods at the same time we’re facing disruptions in the supplies to make those goods. There’s a reci- — this is a recipe for delays and for higher prices, and people are feeling it. They’re feeling it. Did you ever think you’d be paying this much for a gallon of gas? In some parts of California, they’re paying $4.50 a gallon!

In November, the average retail price for all grades and all formulations was $3.49 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That number peaked, at least for now, in March, at $4.32; now it is $4.21. Before March, the last time the price was above four dollars was July 2008.

Keep in mind, we’re still in spring; we haven’t even gotten to the summer months when Americans traditionally drive the most. From the EIA:

We forecast that U.S. gasoline consumption from April through September 2022, the summer driving season, will average 9.2 million b/d, up 75,000 b/d from the 2021 summer driving season, but down from 9.5 million b/d during that period in 2019. We forecast that monthly U.S. gasoline consumption during 2022 will peak in July at almost 9.4 million b/d, slightly more than consumption last July.

We expect that the combination of rising employment and decreasing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel will increase U.S. gasoline consumption during the summer.

Biden, March 31: “It will come down. And it could come down fairly significantly. It could come down the better part of — you know, anything from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon. It’s unknown at this point.”

So far, the price decline is on the low end of Biden’s estimated range. On March 28, the average retail gas price was $4.23 according to the EIA; on April 26, that figure had declined to $4.10.

Enjoy your 13-cents-per-gallon savings, America. Don’t spend it all in one place.

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Source: Yes, The GDP Number Is Bad, But Note Gas Prices Just Keep Staying High | National Review