Warning to Americans: Traders Eye $200 Per Oil Barrel This Month - Report
While it isn’t a sure thing, some experts are warning that oil is on the path to hitting an outrageous $200 a barrel sometime this month.
With no relief in sight for skyrocketing prices, oil traders began betting that prices will continue soaring out of control.
“On Monday, prices to buy call options increased, including at least 200 traded contracts to buy May contracts for Brent futures at $200 a barrel by the end of the month, Bloomberg reported. June Brent contracts also increased as a $150-a-barrel call option doubled just ahead of the weekend and a $180-a-barrel option jumped 110 percent,” Fox Business Network reported.
The rising prices have come quickly on the heels of heavy sanctions against Russian oil exports. Russia is one of the largest oil exporters in the world, with 7.8 million barrels of crude a day emerging from its refineries, according to Bloomberg.
A price of $200 a barrel would drastically raise the price per gallon at the pump.
GasBuddy reported that the national average per gallon has already surged past $4 for the first time since 2008.
“This is a milestone that was hard to imagine happening so quickly, but with bipartisan support of severe sanctions on Russia, is not exactly surprising – it is the cost of choking off Russia from energy revenue,” said head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, Patrick De Haan, on Saturday. “As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues to evolve and we head into a season where gas prices typically increase, Americans should prepare to pay more for gas than they ever have before. Shopping and paying smart at the pump will be critical well into summer.”
Only two days later, GasBuddy noted that the national average jumped to $4.10 a gallon, an all-time high.
On Sunday, gas hit almost $7 at at least one gas station in one of the worst markets in the country for gas, Los Angeles, and Premium had soared to $7.29 there.
These soaring costs are a heavy burden on Americans. With a tank of gas approaching or surpassing at least $50 in many vehicles, Americans are being forced to curtail their travel, and those who are forced to travel for work are finding gasoline eating away at their wages in double time.
Gasoline is not the only soaring cost for everyday Americans. The price of food has also skyrocketed, and some analysts fear that Americans may be stuck with a $1,000 a month grocery bill. And if that is true, Americans will be spending nearly 24 percent of their average monthly income on gasoline and food.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is making matters worse.
In one case, Biden has refused to stop buying oil from international pariah Russia, and his millions are helping Vladimir Putin fund his war against Ukraine.
Biden is also sending envoys to Venezuela, an avowed enemy of the United States, with orders to buy more oil from Venezuelan dictator President Nicolás Maduro, according to Fox News.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues its war against American oil production by hampering America’s oil producers in Texas, Louisiana, Alaska and other states and moving to shut down multiple pipelines, not the least of which was the Keystone XL.
Some in Washington are seeking to reverse Biden’s outrageous attack on the American energy sector.
Late last week, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz introduced the Energy Freedom Act to make America energy independent.
“In the past year with Joe Biden as president, the United States has lost its status as a net petroleum exporter, after achieving that goal in 2019 for the first time since 1949. Why? Because on day one of his administration, President Biden issued illegal and hostile orders aimed at American oil and gas producers, which have increased energy prices and directed profits to other oil exporting countries,” Cruz said in his announcement.
“These policies have poured billions of dollars into countries such as Russia and Iran, which use those funds to attack our allies and undermine the national security of America,” Cruz added. “President Biden has imposed more restrictions on U.S. oil companies than he has on Russian oil. With Iran, he has looked the other way as the regime busted through sanctions and raised their exports to more than one million barrels per day for the first time in almost three years.”
“I’m introducing the Energy Freedom Act to reverse Biden’s actions, so we can restore American energy independence,” he concluded. “This bill won’t cost taxpayers a dime, but it will provide the United States billions in revenue in the coming years by expediting permitting, leasing, safe new pipelines and exports, and providing much needed regulatory certainty. It would create new jobs, lower energy costs, and because modern energy production in the United States is far cleaner than in any other country’s by every measure, it would help the environment.”
We should be hopeful that Sen. Cruz can succeed with his goal of making America energy independent and turning back Biden’s policy of destroying our energy sector.
But in the meantime, Biden’s policies are causing severe pain to every American’s bottom line.
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