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another view
I saw this post and I thought some of the points were good.

Many Americans daily are feeling the pains of higher fuel prices daily. But I want to share some knowledge on this as many fail to understand many things that have brought this nation to the current situation. Let's keep in mind that typically it takes 3 weeks - month from the time the oil is pumped from the ground to be refined and be available as fuel at your local gas station.

Rising crude oil prices and increased gasoline demand contributed to the average U.S. retail price for regular grade gasoline increasing to $3.01 per gallon (gal) in 2021, the highest average nominal price since 2014. The average price for retail gasoline increased by more than $1.00/gal between the start and the end of 2021.

The average U.S. retail gasoline price began the year at $2.25/gal. The average price first passed $3.00/gal on May 17, after disruptions to Colonial Pipeline operations ( Russian computer hacking incident) , and it continued to increase after that, peaking at $3.41/gal on November 8 and finishing the year at $3.28/gal, which is $1.03/gal higher than at the start of the year.

U.S. gasoline prices vary regionally, reflecting local supply and demand conditions and differences in state fuel specifications and taxes. The retail price for regular grade gasoline in 2021 averaged from a low of $2.67/gal on the Gulf Coast to a high of $3.70/gal on the West Coast. From January 4, 2021, to December 27, 2021, retail gasoline prices increased by $0.88/gal in the Midwest, $1.20/gal in the Rocky Mountains, and $1.32/gal on the West Coast.

Retail gasoline prices increased the most in the Rocky Mountains and on the West Coast because of refinery closures in those regions that led to reduced refinery output of gasoline and lower gasoline inventories.

In addition, summer driving in the Rocky Mountains (when the number of visitors to national parks is at its highest) contributed to lower gasoline inventories and higher gasoline prices in that region.

One major contributor to the high retail gasoline prices was high crude oil prices. Crude oil prices in 2021 increased throughout most of the year, and the average crude oil price for 2021 was the highest price since 2018.

Other factors contributing to higher retail gasoline prices in 2021 include higher demand for gasoline, reduced U.S. refinery capacity, and low gasoline inventories.
U.S. gasoline consumption has mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels. It is estimated that U.S. gasoline consumption averaged 8.8 million b/d in 2021, and consumption in the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled only 0.2 million b/d (2%) less than in the fourth quarter of 2019.
U.S. gasoline production did not increase as much as consumption, contributing to gasoline inventory withdrawals of 25.5 million barrels (10%) from January 2021 to December 2021.

So when you start to see some actual data, who is really to blame?

We can all blame this party or that party for the issues. But let's face it folks. Much of this was brought on by people traveling again, which is great as it helps get the economy going again.

But also at the same time many things like refineries being shut down for weeks and decreased production only added to the problems.
This is not a political issue as this is a issue of where companies are looking to make money. The ones with the supply will control it based on the demand.

Economics 101 " Supply and Demand"

Sure things going on with OPEC and Russia are not helping this situation. But until this nation starts building more refineries to refine the oil that is in North America to meet all the needs we will still need to deal with the likes of OPEC.

Some may disagree with my thoughts on all of this, but factual data is something that is hard to challenge.
So what can we as individuals do short term to help?

We can all sit here on a forum and bash this President or some political party but let's get real this does not fall on the strictly on the current President.

We can do the blame game until we all drop dead, is this going to solve anything?

It falls on the Congress, EPA and all the oil companies that for over 50 years that have failed to do anything in regards to updating refineries.

Building new ones to process oils like the tar sands from Canada and the Dakotas so that North America could be independent. So if we are going to cast blame.

Let's cast blame to all those involved, it is time to vote every incumbant out of office at every level. Yes I am being bold we need to really show the lobbists , big money that we as Americans are done with them telling us how it will be done. Until we clean house nothing will ever change, look at all the Senators and Represetives on both sides that are multi milionaires . They are not becoming wealthy on the salary they earh as a elected official . It is all the lobbist deals they get under the table and stock etc.

So if we as average Americans have to feel the pressure so should every elected official in this nation.

This includes local, state and national as too many of these elected leaders have forgot who they represent.

Term limits need to put in place. No one should serve in any office more than 12 years. If they want to serve the people that much, seek office in another office. This mean that all the terms might need some adjustments . But the time and money that is wasted on elections by those in office is a disservice to the role they were elected for to start with. Many of them spend 40% of the time focusing in reelection. Let's make alll terms 6 years and then they will know going in they they can only get a max of two in that seat.

Also no grand fathering for anyone. for any reason or any office. It would be ten years or two terms max for each office. This is how we clear the swamp at all levels and ensure that lobbists are not getting everything they want.

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Lolz
Pipelines do not produce anything. As far as speculation goes. Let's look at this from a perspective that most people here will understand. Let's imagine these Pipelines are trucks hauling freight. You have one truck and you're making pretty good money with it. You decide to buy another truck. Does having an extra truck mean you're going to drastically reduce your freight rate? Does having another truck delivering products to your customer mean that they're going to drastically reduce the cost of their goods? Or is it more likely that you and your customers are going to put the added profits in your pockets?


Can you tell me how many barrels a day currently come out of ANWR? How much that number increased under the previous administration? How much that number was supposed to increase over the next decade.

I don't follow your rhetoric about land that might have oil. These oil leases are more speculative than the actual drilling permits the current administration signed in the last year. They were drilling lease approvals, not exploratory approvals. There are still over 9000 privately held leases to drill on public land that are currently unused.

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Lolz
Nobody closed the Keystone Pipeline. They canceled permits for construction on the XL. The XL was not dlated to be finished until 2030. I fail to see how that would impact prices right now. The XL was a Canadian pipeline, built to transport Canadian oil to American ports. That was to be built on American land that was obtained through eminent domain. Explain to me how a Canadian company can seize American land through eminent domain.

Oil production is rebounding after the previous administration crashed the price in 2018. Rig count is up since the current administration took office. The current administration approved more drilling permits on public lands than the previous administration did in theor first year.

These are all verifiable facts that I'm sure you won't believe.

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Cliff
Why would any oil company be interested in drilling new wells anyway? To increase the supply and lower the price?

They got us right where they want us. As long as we're willing to pay the increased prices and not cut back on consumption they're just happy to sit back and rake it in (especially since they are short of workers like everyone else is). It's the perfect storm for big oil.

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Face in crowd
The Keystone pipeline was stopped by lawsuits filed by hard working, America loving Republican farmers and ranchers. Seems that they didn't like the idea of having their family's land taken by the the exercise of eminent domain. Eminent domain is necessary for things like expanding a highway from two lane to four lane or building a bypass around a town. But for a foreign oil company to use it in order to pipe the oil past several closer refineries all the way to the gulf so that the foreign oil company can sell it to a foreign company? No thank you.

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Let's make some changes
Everyone needs to calm down the keystone is not going to solve all the issues in this nation. This pipeline even if all the permits that needed to be done still would not be done for another two years at least.

Not to mention that our nation needs more refineries and updates to existing refineries. The real issues are is that our nation has for two long made deals with others that sometimes don't benefit our nation always. With everything going on in the world at this moment this is the moment for North America to once again can become a world power.

So we as a nation need to be thinking more about ways that our nation along with our neighbors to north and south can really take advantage of all the resources that we have that would make us less dependent on OPEC and also become a leveling option for Europe. I know having pipelines, windmills , solar panels is not things we want to see in rural America. But do we want to see 8.00/gallon diesel?

Let's put aside the red and blue party crap.

Everyone needs to come up with something to get things moving forward.

That's what we need, it will not be easy and it will not happen overnight or even within a year or two. The changes have to be long term commitment.

Just my views, I am sure some will disagree with me on this. But we need to do this for the future of our nation.

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Face in crowd
I'm not going to talk you out of your ignorance. But for everyone else, the pipeline was delayed this long by lawsuits primarily from landowners. And yes, there are environmentalists who worry about oil leaking from the pipeline through the sand hills and into aquifers. But to me, the most important question is whether or not a foreign oil company can force you to give up land. I say no.