Free Republic

There’s this crazy thing called “energy independence” — ever heard of it?I’m no political consultant, but maybe I could be? We’re just three weeks out from the midterms, and Democrat “strategies” could not be more misplaced. Portland’s streets are strewn with drug addicts, every bum in Manhattan could be an out-on-bail psychopath with a knife, Trump rallies draw larger crowds than the Commander-in-Thief’s inauguration, and the eggs I like are $7 — but Joe is promising full-term abortions, Kamala’s laughing, Beto wants to take our guns (again), and Mayor Pete is presumably still on maternity leave. During times of intense...

CNN — Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Candidate John Fetterman said in a national television interview last week that he has always supported fracking in his state, but in 2018 Fetterman said he never supported the industry and “never” will. The comments are part of a long and often contradictory series of positions from the Senate candidate on the industry, which provides tens of thousands of jobs and contributes millions to Pennsylvania’s economy. [cut] Said he did not support fracking and never has in 2018 [cut] Called it a “stain” in 2016..

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said that the Biden administration thinks gas prices “should continue coming down,” and there have been “historic spreads between the cost of crude oil and the cost that’s being paid at the pump. So, we’re calling on those who own those gas stations to bring down the price.” Host Andrea Mitchell asked, “Bottom line, can you do anything to bring down gas prices between now and the election a month from now?” Adeyemo responded, “So, Andrea, we think that gas prices should continue coming down, because we’ve...

A top Saudi official has blamed Joe Biden for higher gas prices after claiming the president should have extracted more oil from US wells. Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State, spoke to Fox News Friday and said it's Washington's fault for not increasing domestic production of the fuel. Al-Jubeir said, 'With due respect, the reason you have high prices in the United States is because you have a refining shortage that has been in existence for more than 20 years. You haven't built refineries in decades.'

Gas prices that are already ticking back up again might increase another 10% or more following a move by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day. The Biden administration — which has put a high priority on bringing gas prices down ahead of the 2022 midterm elections — was quick to lash out at OPEC’s decision. As the WaPo reported, administration officials have pressured OPEC leader Saudi Arabia to produce more oil to compensate for the global shortage caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Biden himself...

Democrats’ electoral fortunes have improved significantly in recent months. And while it appears the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is the biggest reason, the coinciding drop in gas prices surely didn’t hurt. But just as the party appeared primed to take advantage of that in the midterm elections, which are just a month away, the problem rears its ugly head again. And Democrats are clearly quite concerned. Just how concerned should they be? Gas prices had already been rising for the past two weeks, after 98 days of consecutive declines over the summer, to a national average...

Here is Central Illinois gas prices jumped some 30 cents yesterday and are now again over $4 a gallon for reg. Why and why now? Have your gas prices creeped up, are you paying more than you were 2.5 years ago?

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its oil-exporting allies announced a 2 million barrel per day cut in oil production Wednesday, bucking months of pressure from Washington to increase production and potentially spiking gas prices again. The coalition, which includes the 13 OPEC nations and 11 non-members including Russia, made the announcement at its Vienna meeting, the first in-person summit since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The announced cut is roughly equivalent to 2 percent of global supplies. In July, President Biden visited Saudi Arabia to directly appeal to its leaders to increase oil production, despite...

After more than a year of rising gas prices, it was nice to see them go down a bit over the summer. It wasn’t enough, but every little bit helped. All the while, the Biden administration crowed about gas prices as though a slight drop after sharp rises was all part of the plan. Many of us believed that prices would trend back upward eventually and recent weeks have proven that notion correct, as oil companies started preparing for the switch to winter gas formulas and Hurricane Ian bore down on Florida. And now it looks like even higher gas...

Gas prices hit a record high in Los Angeles County of $6.466 per gallon on Monday morning, soaring past the previous record set during the nationwide price surge this past spring.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is lashing out at oil companies who he says are “fleecing” Californians with gasoline prices that are rising disproportionately in the Golden State. “The fact is, they’re ripping you off. Their record profits are coming at your expense,” Newsom said in a scathing video posted to Twitter Friday in which the governor called for a new windfall tax on oil companies. Newsom said the windfall tax would “ensure these profits go directly back to help millions of Californians who are paying for this oil company extortion.”

Sticker Shock. Just a day after Californians saw gas top $6 for a gallon of regular unleaded, gasoline prices made their largest jump in seven years overnight. According to AAA, the Los Angeles-Long Beach region increased 15.3 cents overnight to $6.26/gallon Thursday.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), the top fossil fuel industry group in the U.S., responded to President Biden on Wednesday, saying allegations that oil companies would price gouge during the hurricane in Florida were "false." API stated that gasoline prices are determined by the market and that its member companies are focused on shoring up supplies amid the massive storm barreling into Florida. Oil industry groups slammed President Biden for threatening an investigation into potential price gouging during Hurricane Ian. (FOX Business / Fox News)

Prices could continue to rise, expert says.. The average price of gas in Oregon is up to $5 per gallon again after prices spiked by nearly 40 cents in the last week. After a summer of declining prices, AAA reports that statewide prices jumped from $4.64 per gallon to $5 per gallon in the last seven days. Prices are also up 20.3 cents per gallon in the Portland-Vancouver area this week, with an average price of $4.98 per gallon, GasBuddy.com petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan noted. ... gas prices shooting up in several regions amidst myriad refinery issues from the...

The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1. However, until now, we’ve had an eerily quiet stretch of virtually no major storm threats to the Gulf of Mexico or the U.S. mainland. However, that could soon change as “Invest 98L,” currently swirling in the southeastern Caribbean, is predicted to go tropical and potentially enter the Gulf next week as a major hurricane. That’s a problem. Possibly a major, scary problem, because almost anytime even a moderate strength hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico, oil production on the rigs at sea to the refineries that dot the southern U.S. Gulf...

President Joe Biden claimed that the cost for a gallon of gasoline was under three dollars, during a White House event on Monday about higher costs experienced by consumers. “In some few states, it’s below three bucks,” he said. “It’s in the low threes in other places.” No state has an average price of under three dollars, according to the American Automobile Association. The lowest price for a gallon of gas is in Mississippi, according to Gasbuddy.com, which is $3.04. But Biden did not correct his statement. Last week, Biden made a similar claim, which was fact-checked and corrected by...

Utilities are paying more for natural gas, which means many Colorado customers will see higher bills starting Oct. 1. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved fuel rate adjustments Wednesday for Xcel Energy-Colorado and Atmos Energy Corp. Regulations allow the utilities to pass through higher fuel costs to customers. Although Xcel Energy customers will see monthly increases in the single digits, they could end up paying nearly 54% more in December than they did in December 2021, according to a notice sent by the company. The PUC’s action on the companies’ fuel-cost adjustment is separate from pending decisions on proposed increases...

Joe Biden and the Democrats had been riding “almost not catastrophic” economic news for much of the summer, pointing to a drop in gasoline prices as “proof” that Biden’s policies were “working.” Gas prices are down — for the moment. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes prices at the pump will start going up again this winter. But even falling gas prices couldn’t bring down the overall rate of inflation that came in “higher than expected” at 8.3%. Prices have climbed 0.1% since July, and the Federal Reserve is now expected to raise interest rates other three-quarters of a percentage point...

Biden’s administration is getting more and more desperate as the Midterms loom as the pace at which they are draining the nation’s so-called ‘strategic’ reserve of crude oil just went to ’11’. Last week saw almost 8.54 million barrels withdrawn from the SPR – the biggest weekly drain in history. ... This unprecedented collapse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest since September 1984 has helped lower oil prices (from their record highs)… ... the price of gas at the pump is still up 76% since Biden was . ... But ‘average joe’ doesn’t care about ‘president joe’ actions...

Russia said Tuesday that it would not resume natural gas flow to the European Union until sanctions are lifted, all but acknowledging that it is intentionally inflicting an energy crisis on Europe as a means of countering Western economic punishment for its invasion of Ukraine... “It is important to recall that there is not just one gas pipeline from Russia to Europe,” European Commission energy spokesman Tim McPhie said Monday. “If there was a technical problem which was impeding supplies via Nord Stream 1, there would be a possibility, if there was willingness, to deliver gas to Europe through other...