The days of falling gas prices appear to be over. If you've noticed pump prices rising of late, a gas industry analyst says blame OPEC, and it's not going to change any time soon.
Patrick DeHaan of the website gasbuddy. com says this price rise is because of the price of oil...
"....which still stands near multi-year highs, about $65 a barrel. That's because of a drastic reduction over the last year and a half, which could be blamed on OPEC(Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), which back in 2016 announced they were cutting crude oil production. Fast forward to today, U.S. oil inventories are 77 million barrels lower than last year...."
DeHaan says U.S. oil production has risen and now is among the world's largest oil producers...
"...the inherent problem is when you look at the U.S. oil production to OPEC which is made up of many nations that are oil producers, even an incease in U.S. oil production can't offset dozens of countries and their numbers...."
DeHaan says U.S. producers continue to increase output but it won't offset the OPEC reductions. He predicts prices will continue to rise. In the coming months, he says, there will be shutdowns for refinery maintenance and refineries will be switching over to more costly summer blends of gasoline.
DeHaan says by April, gas prices could be 20 to 40 cents a gallon higher.
