We enter the official 2020 hurricane season in June with a full appreciation that this year brings additional challenges as our nation continues a fight against a different yet deadly type of storm.
Fuel supply limitations resulting from the impact of hurricanes and other natural disasters on infrastructure, for example, can lead to price increases as the market reacts to rebalance supply and demand.
By mid-January, news sources have thoroughly exhausted reports on American’s Yuletide spending and attention inevitably turns to the day of reckoning: Tax Day.
Right now, members of Congress are debating a series of taxes as part of the multi-trillion-dollar reconciliation package that could make the crude oil that runs through U.S. refineries more expensive.
Hurricane Ida knocked out power to over one million people and created devastation that will take months to address. But as soon as the storm passed, the fuel and petrochemical industries began stepping up with financial assistance, in-kind donations and in-person support to help affected communities recover and rebuild.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – "Federal policy is discouraging supply by shutting down pipelines, putting future production off limits, talking down the future of the petroleum business, and imposing expensive requirements on refineries, chief among them a burdensome Renewable Fuel Standard. The Administration is blaming others when it ought to take a sober look at its own energy policy."
Limiting California’s access to the exact types of crude oil its facilities need will only increase prices for the state’s consumers and travelers. Drivers are already dealing with gasoline prices in excess of $5 per gallon and the highest fuel taxes of the 50 states. Confining energy producers and consumers to a smaller pool of crude oil will make a very sensitive price environment that much worse.
The unprecedented disaster wrought by Hurricane Harvey has the safety of friends, family, colleagues and communities along the Gulf Coast weighing heavy on our minds and hearts.
Fuel supply restrictions resulting from hurricanes and other natural disasters, often lead to price increases as the market reacts to rebalance supply and demand. To protect consumers, many states have enacted price gouging laws that limit a merchant’s ability to raise prices during an emergency.
