Southwest Pennsylvanians could feel Ukraine invasion in their pocketbooks
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A Washington man fills his SUV with $40 worth of gas Friday afternoon. The ongoing crisis in Ukraine is expected to increase the price Americans pay at the pumps.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Gas prices are expected to increase as war wages in Ukraine. For those not registered for club rewards, the price at the pump was $3.69 per gallon Friday afternoon at this gas station on Murtland Avenue in Washington.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
As the situation unfolds in Ukraine, gas prices are expected to rise in the United States.
Ukraine might be 5,000 miles from Southwestern Pennsylvania, but residents of this region and across the country are likely going to be feeling the effects of the Russian invasion of the Eastern European nation in their pocketbooks.
Anticipation of the incursion had already driven gasoline prices higher. As of Tuesday, the average price of gasoline in Washington was $3.63 per gallon and $3.69 in Uniontown, according to AAA, and across the region it was $3.73. An additional cent or two had been added at the pump by the end of the week, according to Jim Garrity, spokesman for AAA’s Pittsburgh office. The price of a barrel of crude oil has increased by more than $20 since the beginning of 2022, and on Thursday it briefly went over $100 barrel. All this is pointing toward gasoline prices that could soon hit more than $4 per gallon.
“We’ll have to see what will happen with the political tension in the world,” Garrity explained, as the flow of Russian oil into the global market could be halted in retaliation for sanctions placed on the country by the United States and its allies. Russia is one of the five leading oil producers in the world, along with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Canada and China.
Other factors that could soon drive up gas prices is the switch to summer-blend fuel, which costs more, and increased driving as temperatures warm in the spring and summer.
According to Garrity, “Consumers should be prepared for prices to go up. We could be seeing record-setting prices.”
Higher prices at the pump will add more fuel to inflation, likely pushing up prices for food and other goods. How long the conflict endures between Russia and Ukraine will help determine if an increase in gasoline prices persists, according to Paul Hettler, a professor of economics at California University of Pennsylvania. He pointed out that policymakers do have tools to combat higher prices, such as a gas tax holiday or tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
If higher gas prices slow the United States’ economic recovery, it could lead the Federal Reserve to hold off on raising interest rates, Hettler pointed out.
“This adds new interesting uncertainty,” he said. Gas prices “could lead the economy to slow down on its own.”
Consumers also have tools to ease their fuel consumption, Garrity said. They can cut back on optional trips, work remotely if possible and ease up on the pedal.
“There’s just no advantage to speeding,” Garrity said, citing safety risks and the fact that cars burn fuel less efficiently at higher speeds.
“It’s a major drag on the wallet,” he added.