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The Biden administration has vowed to use every tool at their disposal to curb rising petrol prices that are causing pain at the pump for tens of millions of Americans. 

According to petroleum analysis from GasBuddy, average gas prices across the San Francisco metro area this week reached a record high of $4.75 per gallon. 

“The Bay area just recorded the nation’s highest-ever average price of gasoline in the United States; certainly a feat that even last year seemed impossible. But thanks to myriad challenges, derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, the average fillup now costs motorists in the Bay area nearly $62,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

GasBuddy explains heavy rains in the Bay area caused refinery outages, in conjunction with already high crude prices due to an energy crunch across the world. Also, add an increasing raising gasoline tax, and it’s entirely possible that $5 per gallon could be imminent. 

“While prices in the Bay soared to similar levels in 2012, they were temporary as a result of a refinery fire. My concern here is that even after refineries get back online after a deluge of rain, prices may remain near or at record levels thanks to the continued rise of the price of oil,” De Haan warned. 

Currently, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. is about $3.69, a 70% increase since the early days of the virus pandemic. 

“Gas prices continued to soar in a majority of the nation over the last week as oil’s meteoric rise pulls gasoline and other refined product prices higher,” De Haan said. 

There’s been growing discontent among the American people, watching their real wages evaporate weekly as soaring energy and food inflation shows no signs of abating. 

The Biden administration has promised to use every tool possible to curb soaring fuel prices contributing to inflation. White House officials have said they’re “closely monitoring” the cost of gasoline (and likely also the President’s approval rating).

The Biden team continues to beg OPEC+ to increase crude production, possibly stemming the tide of soaring inflation. One thing to note, why doesn’t Biden unleash another executive order demanding that U.S. crude producers ramp up their production? 

As respected energy market (and geopolitical) observer Daniel Yergin recently told Bloomberg, “the Biden admin doesn’t have many tools on energy prices.”

So get used to paying higher gas prices. This will certainly not go well ahead of the midterms, as voters may vote with their empty wallets.