Washington D.C — Hours after the Washington Post reported that dangerously low oil supplies are threatening to push gas prices even higher, congressional Republicans again voted almost unanimously to continue their war in Iran.
All but four House Republicans voted against yesterday’s Iran War Powers Resolution despite the fact that the war has already cost the average U.S. household nearly $750 – with costs continuing to rise.
“Congressional Republicans just showed the American people once again how little they care about rising gas and diesel costs that are crushing working families,” said Unrig Our Economy Campaign Director Leor Tal. “Americans are also facing elevated food costs and fertilizer shortages due to the war. And that comes on top of cost-raising tariffs that have driven up the cost of most goods. It’s a stark reminder that Republicans in Congress continue to put President Trump and their billionaire buddies over the needs of working people struggling to get by.”
More from the Washington Post on rising oil prices as a result of Republicans’ war in Iran
The Washington Post: Plunging global oil supplies threaten to push fuel prices even higher
Key Points:
- Americans face a new round of punishing price increases for fuel and other products as oil and gas inventories plunge to historic lows around the world because of the war in Iran, energy executives and analysts warn.
- Fuel stocks are so low, experts said, that even an abrupt agreement between the United States and Iran and an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies passed before the war — may not stop fuel prices from soaring anew by the July Fourth holiday.
- Gas prices averaged more than $4.30 over the past month, according to AAA.
- Oil companies and countries, including the U.S., have run down reserves they tapped after the war began Feb. 28, meaning further price increases are likely.
- “We’re approaching unheard-of inventory levels. … Once you get to that point, then you’ll see price shoot up,” Chapman said at a conference held by Bernstein Research in New York on Thursday.
- He pointed to company and industry modeling that shows the price of a barrel of Brent crude potentially soaring to $150 or $160 — more than 50 percent what the global benchmark cost on futures markets as of Tuesday.
- Oxford Economics, a research firm, said Tuesday in a note to clients that inventories are dwindling so fast that if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed through July, oil prices would climb to levels “difficult to tolerate for long.”
- The U.S. and Israeli strikes that started the war in Iran significantly reduced global oil and gas supplies. The amount of crude shipped worldwide has dropped by 12.8 million barrels per day, a reduction of more than 11 percent compared with prewar levels.
- It will take months to replenish industry and national stocks of gas and oil once the Strait of Hormuz reopens, analysts warn.
- Analysts are warning consumers to brace for the broader energy crunch — especially prices at the gas pump — to get worse before it improves.
To learn more about the campaign, visit UnrigOurEconomy.com or contact press@unrigoureconomy.com
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About Unrig Our Economy
Unrig Our Economy is a national campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, their wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable.