Gas Prices in General
Too high, is what you would say to the recent increase in pricing for gasoline all across the globe. Though not everyone has as bad of pricing for their gasoline as others does not mean that they are not suffering under this kind of problem as well. But from the look at the line graph, it shows each part of the United States having a bigger increase of pricing at March 2022, which would have meant something sudden had a drastic effect on the pricing to make it increase by almost two dollars. This increase would make it harder to live by for certain people, and from the looks of it, especially for the people of California with that kind of pricing.
In this picture it shows what is being paid for when getting a gallon of gas, with 14% of it going to taxes, 11-17% on distribution & marketing, 14-16% on refining and 53-61% on the actual gas/crude oil itself. A part of that increase is “of taxes as well as regulatory programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions”. With the state taxes on gasoline being about up to 40%, that would definitely change the picture above by a lot, since the 14% would then be changed to up to 40%.
Why Focus on LA?
In Los Angeles it is usually known to be an expensive city to live in to begin with, then you include the recent gasoline price increases and it only makes it much more expensive. Looking at the map of California gas prices you see that the red is where the prices are up high, while the blue is when it is low. But for Los Angeles it is almost or is already up to 6 dollars, which puts it at the red for the price changes. Explaining why Los Angeles is the one to focus on for both its high price of living in and of being one of the few cities in California to have the higher increases than others.
This picture of current gas prices in some parts of Los Angeles is an example of one of the many gas stations that got hit with this increase. These kinds of prices are a disaster to many and would make it much harder to travel around anywhere without thinking about having to pay so much later on.
Causes For These Prices
After having a look around, it seems there are two big factors to the high rise in pricing for gas prices for all. One of them being of COVID-19 for disrupting the many supply chains that also include oil. The next big factor being the war going on over in Ukraine, more specifically that Russia raised the prices for oil by 58%, and for gas up to 28%. The reason for them raising it to that much is because of Russia being one of the top three of producing oil, which makes them able to raise it when they want. With that increase they can buy much more supplies for themselves.
References
NBC10 Boston. (2022, March 15). Q&A: Why are gas prices so high? what can be done? NBC Boston. March 15, 2022. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/qa-why-are-gas-prices-so-high-what-can-be-done/2669904/
California average gas prices. AAA Gas Prices. n.d . https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=CA
Karlamangla, S., & Woo, E. Why California gas prices are especially high. The New York Times. March 9, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/us/california-high-gas-prices.html
Patton, M. The real reason behind surging gas prices. Forbes. April 14, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2022/03/09/the-real-reason-behind-surging-gas-prices/?sh=6c8bc22f26de
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