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After Blaming ‘Putin’s Price Hike,’ Biden Now Blames ‘Greedy’ Oil Companies For High Gas Prices

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President Biden switched gears on Wednesday, blaming “greedy” oil and gas companies for the high cost of gas. 

West Texas Intermediate oil had risen to $124.90 a barrel last week. There were concerns that it might rise further as Biden declared he would ban Russian energy.

The White House at the time set about blaming oil prices on Russia, even branding it “Putin’s price hike.”

“Americans’ budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impacts of Putin’s price hike,” Biden said in a statement. 

“A large contributor to inflation this month was an increase in gas and energy prices as markets reacted to Putin’s aggressive actions.”

Before that, the Administration blamed the rising gas prices for the pandemic.

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Biden Demands Lower Gas Prices

Rather than continue to rise from last week’s spike, the cost of oil dropped to under $100 per barrel. It happened despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. It did so even as ‘Putin’s aggressive actions’ remain aggressive.

President Biden’s Twitter account posted a chart showing the cost of a barrel of oil going down but the gas prices staying relatively stable and, rather than blaming Putin, blamed greedy oil companies.

“Oil prices are decreasing, gas prices should too,” Biden said.

“Last time oil was $96 a barrel, gas was $3.62 a gallon. Now it’s $4.31. Oil and gas companies shouldn’t pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans.”

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Greedy Oil Companies

In a matter of one week, President Biden switched from blameing Putin for the soaring prices of gas to taking responsibility for the incessant greed and mismanagement by the oil companies.

One could assume that the drop in oil price this week is due to Putin.

Although experts believe the oil price drop could have been due to Russia and Ukraine’s potential peace negotiations, they note that China is seeing a decline in demand due to recent coronavirus lockdowns.

It seems like this is a larger factor.

“Crude oil prices are determined by global supply and demand,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration states on their site. “Economic growth is one of the biggest factors affecting petroleum product—and therefore crude oil—demand.”

Biden’s blame for oil companies shows panic in the administration. They understand that the cost of living is a major concern for Americans and that it is necessary to reduce them.

The cost of gasoline has always increased with an increase in oil prices. However, it takes longer for gas to drop when the reverse happens. It’s not a unique concept to the Biden era.

CNN Business points out that there is a term for that phenomenon known as “rockets and feathers.”

“This has been going on for 40 years,” Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told CNN. “Prices do dip, it just seems to take a long time. You can’t deny the data that is out there.”

Nicole Petersen is a spokesperson from GasBuddy. She suggests that prices drop slower due to individual stations.

“Essentially, gas stations often take losses when oil prices rise so quickly because they cannot dramatically increase pump prices due to local competition,” said Petersen.

“When oil prices drop, stations take a little bit more time to lower prices as to recoup any losses taken when oil prices rose quickly.”