Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here. Today's gas prices are uncomfortably
Speaker 1: high for most Americans. The national average cost for a
Speaker 1: regular gallon of gas was four dollars and nineteen cents
Speaker 1: as of April four two. According to Triple A. A
Speaker 1: month earlier, that same gallon would have been under four dollars.
Speaker 1: A year earlier, it would have been under three dollars.
Speaker 1: The one bit of good news, such high prices don't
Speaker 1: last forever. Gas prices regularly fluctuate. The nation's all time
Speaker 1: high price technically came on March eleven, two, when gas
Speaker 1: hit a national average of four dollars and thirty three
Speaker 1: cents per gallon. That price is dwarfed by the prices
Speaker 1: seen at the pump. In July of two eight, they
Speaker 1: hit four dollars and eleven cents, which equals five dollars
Speaker 1: thirty cents in today's money. But this was just before
Speaker 1: the onset of the global financial crisis sent gas prices plunging.
Speaker 1: But as recently, gas was just a dollar six per gallon,
Speaker 1: which equates to a dollar eighty six when adjusted for inflation.
Speaker 1: The lowest price since, though during the nineteen seventies, when
Speaker 1: there were a number of gas shortages, the highest average
Speaker 1: price for gas was eighty six cents a gallon or
Speaker 1: three dollars fifty three cents one adjusted for inflation. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of factors that contribute to the price
Speaker 1: of gas. For the article, this episode is based on
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. That spoke with Andrew Gross, a Triple
Speaker 1: A National spokesperson. He said, the cost of oil accounts
Speaker 1: for of what you pay at the pump. Another fourteen
Speaker 1: percent comes from refining costs, sixteen percent is marketing and distribution,
Speaker 1: and the last fifteen percent is taxes. The price of
Speaker 1: crude oil, the main driver in gas costs depends upon
Speaker 1: many factors, but the main one is simple supply and demand.
Speaker 1: When there's a lot of oil out there, prices drop.
Speaker 1: When there's not enough oil to meet demand, prices rise.
Speaker 1: The world's oil supply is controlled by oil producing nations,
Speaker 1: including the US, but also by OPAC, a cartel of
Speaker 1: thirteen oil producing nations clustered in Africa, the Middle East,
Speaker 1: and South America. The recent surge in gas prices is
Speaker 1: partly due to Russia's late February invasion of Ukraine, which
Speaker 1: has spooked the global oil market, But prices were already
Speaker 1: climbing before the invasion due to the COVID nineteen pandemic.
Speaker 1: Back in when COVID first emerged, the pandemic caused an
Speaker 1: enormous drop in demand as people stopped traveling. This left
Speaker 1: oil producers with a large surplus, so they cut back production.
Speaker 1: More recently, with COVID vaccinations and boosters readily available in
Speaker 1: the US and many other countries, demand for gases rising
Speaker 1: as home bound citizens are eager to resume travel. Yet
Speaker 1: oil producers are leery about quickly ratcheting up production to
Speaker 1: meet this demand. The pandemic is still here for one thing, Plus,
Speaker 1: there are major uncertainties about the situation in Ukraine. Producers
Speaker 1: do not want to get stuck with another surplus on hand.
Speaker 1: While the cost of gas is rising across the United States,
Speaker 1: comparing prices between the states is jarring. California's prices are
Speaker 1: the highest in the nation, averaging five dollars and five
Speaker 1: cents per gallons statewide as of March twenty one. That
Speaker 1: same day, Kansas posted the lowest statewide average, three dollars
Speaker 1: and seventy seven cents A part of these price differentials
Speaker 1: come from state gas taxes, which in two ranged from
Speaker 1: eight cents per gallon in Alaska to fifty one point
Speaker 1: one cents in California, where environmental requirements for its fuel
Speaker 1: blends helped drive up the cost. A state's location within
Speaker 1: the US also plays a huge role in determining fuel costs.
Speaker 1: States that are closer to refineries and pipelines, which are
Speaker 1: clustered in the South, have were gas transportation costs and
Speaker 1: thus pay less than those states that are farther away.
Speaker 1: The Western States are hit especially hard as they're far
Speaker 1: away from refineries and their oil needs to flow through
Speaker 1: pipelines crossing the Rocky Mountains, an expensive undertaking, but consider
Speaker 1: the rest of the world. European countries such as Germany
Speaker 1: and the Netherlands were charging nine dollars twelve cents and
Speaker 1: nine dollars twenty cents per gallon of gas on March fourteenth, two,
Speaker 1: and in Hong Kong, the world's most expensive place to
Speaker 1: get gas, the price was whopping ten dollars ninety eight
Speaker 1: cents per gallon. The citizens in some of the world's
Speaker 1: oil rich countries luck out, though Iran, Libya and Venezuela
Speaker 1: were charging their citizens of pittance for gas between ten
Speaker 1: and nineteen cents per gallon as of March fourteenth two.
Speaker 1: The reasons for the world wild gas price differentials are
Speaker 1: similar to those facing the US. Prices differ depending on
Speaker 1: how far the oil is traveling and the strength of
Speaker 1: countries trade structures. For example, plus, many industrialized nations tax
Speaker 1: their gas at a much higher rate than the US. Here,
Speaker 1: the federal gas tax has been zero point one eight
Speaker 1: four cents per gallon since European Union countries, in contrast,
Speaker 1: must levy a minimum gas tax of thirty six euros
Speaker 1: per leader that equals about a dollar fifty five per gallon,
Speaker 1: and similar to how American states add their own taxes,
Speaker 1: so do many countries in the European Union. The highest
Speaker 1: gas tax in the EU is in the Netherlands, at
Speaker 1: point eight one euros per leader, or three dollars in
Speaker 1: fifty one cents per gallon. However, right now, no one
Speaker 1: knows how long this upward trend will last. Gross said,
Speaker 1: we haven't had a major European land war in seventy
Speaker 1: five years, much less in the middle of a pandemic
Speaker 1: O Peck and others are still producing oil at less
Speaker 1: than pre pandemic levels. There are a lot of questions
Speaker 1: out there. Most experts warn that gas prices will likely
Speaker 1: continue to rise as we are nearing the summer season,
Speaker 1: which is when gas is reformulated to ward against the
Speaker 1: excess of operation that can occur when temperatures warm, a
Speaker 1: pricey process. Yet, they say that sky high prices won't
Speaker 1: last forever because if they climb to excessively, the economy
Speaker 1: will falter and demand will plunge along with the price.
Speaker 1: In the meanwhile, the best way to save gas is
Speaker 1: to limit your usage, but because walking or biking to
Speaker 1: work or the store isn't always possible, here are a
Speaker 1: few things that everyone can do to use less fuel. First,
Speaker 1: obey speed limits above fifty miles an hour or so.
Speaker 1: Driving faster uses more gas. Going seventy five an hour
Speaker 1: on the highway instead of sixty five miles an hour
Speaker 1: can cost you six to seven more miles per gallon.
Speaker 1: According to consumer reports, that means losing a hundred miles
Speaker 1: of driving for every fifteen gallon tank. Okay, Also, drive smoothly.
Speaker 1: Putting the pedal to the metal eats up gas, as
Speaker 1: do hardbreaking and sharp turns. Next, keep your tires inflated.
Speaker 1: The tires lose pressure over time, and when they're below
Speaker 1: recommended levels, you can lose about fift of your car's
Speaker 1: fuel efficiency. Also, if you can ditch any exterior hardware
Speaker 1: and empty out your trunk to remove excess weight. Also,
Speaker 1: don't idle. It takes less gas to restart your car
Speaker 1: than to have an idle for more than a minute
Speaker 1: or two. And finally, combine trips. Awaiting not only cuts
Speaker 1: down on the number of miles driven, but reduces fuel
Speaker 1: consumption as warm engines are more efficient than cold ones.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article what's the most
Speaker 1: Americans have ever paid for gas? On HowStuffWorks dot com
Speaker 1: written by Melanie Redzeekie McManus. Brain Stuff is production of
Speaker 1: by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuff workst Com,
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Before more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.