Oklahoma Gas Prices Continue To Climb Following Russian Invasion
Beverly Cantrell - March 8, 2022 9:00 am
OKC-News 9
Energy giant Shell just announced this morning they are no longer going to purchase oil from Russia and other companies may soon follow suite.
Average gas prices here in Oklahoma have shot up around 40 cents in just the last week.
According to Oklahoma City University professor Dr. Steve Agee, the US only gets a small portion of oil from Russia, but other countries get a lot more.
According to World Oil, a majority of the U.S.’s imports from Russia are not crude oil itself but oil products.
If Russian oil gets cut off, he says there will be less oil to go around, and prices will go up even more.
There is talk about how Oklahoma and other states could play a role in producing more oil right here at home.
Gov. Kevin Stitt says Oklahoma can help pump up the oil supply in the US.
He wrote a letter to the President about it, but to do that is a bit complicated.
First, it is a very high capital investment.
The wells are millions of dollars and market instability is another cause for caution.
“Let’s suppose this war ends in a month, or six weeks or whatever, then suddenly price will stabilize because there is more stability. Then as those prices come down, those oil producers might be out there drilling a bunch of wells and they might think, well you know, this worked at $120 oil but it’s not going to work at $80 oil,” says Agee.
Analysts estimate the surge in gas prices could cost the average family an extra $2,000 this year.
