Central Bucks Today

The U.S. government’s strategy announced in March of combating rising gas prices by releasing 180 million barrels of oil over six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve isn’t alleviating price hikes at the pump in Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden on March 31 announced the release of the barrels as a means of shoring up global supplies in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a White House briefing said. The Biden Administration has described rising prices as “Putin’s price hike at the pump.”

“This release is being coordinated with allies and partners around the world. Together, our combined efforts will supply well over 1 million barrels per day to the market,” the briefing said. “These actions will increase our immediate supply and help us meet the immediate emergency and address the lack of supply as a result of Putin’s actions.”

However, since the announcement, Pennsylvanians, and the nation, are experiencing gas prices that are hitting new records.

The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in Pennsylvania as of May 13 was $4.58, AAA said. A week prior it was $4.461, and last month it was $4.186.

Prices are the highest in eastern Pennsylvania, in such counties as Bucks, Pike and Montgomery where there were $4.676 per gallon averages.

The national average of a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.432 as of May 13, AAA said. The national average of gas surpassed $4 per gallon on March 5 for the first time since 2008, GasBuddy said.

“There’s little, if any, good news about fuel prices heading into summer, and the problem could become worse should we see an above average hurricane season, which could knock out refinery capacity at a time we badly need it as refined product inventories continue to plummet,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a press release.

Congressional Republicans criticized the Biden Administration’s energy policies after average nationwide gas prices hit an all-time high, The Hill said.