If it has not already been inconveniently noticeable, gas prices have soared these past couple months. A main component to this ordeal is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This invasion has been a tragic start to the beginning of 2022 for many people across the globe. With the invasions beginning towards the end of the month of February, many Ukrainian citizens have been dealing with fleeing to safety, finding food, warmth, a place to sleep and, most importantly, staying alive. According to the United Nations tracker, a tracker that continuously updates the number of statistics pertaining to the invasion, as of March 19 over 3.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries. More than 900 civilians have died. While Ukrainian’s are facing a dreadful and deadly war with Russian armed forces, it has also caused a bit of an economic backlash on American citizens as well.
Since the start of the invasion, gas prices have been fluctuating in the U.S., with the prices reaching an all time high in the country this month. According to data provided from AAA, the updated average price of gas in San Joaquin County as of March 29 is $5.73. Comparing this to the average of around a month ago where it was approximately $4.60 and even cheaper, this has started to hurt the pockets of many.
Some of the big questions on everyone’s mind, now might be ‘What is causing these prices to rise?’ or ‘How does the rise in gas prices even relate to the Russian invasions of Ukraine?’
It essentially reflects on oil. Crude oil is known to be one of the biggest determiners for gas prices since it is refined to make gasoline. Russia happens to be one of the top three oil producers in the world, providing approximately 10 percent of the global supply of oil, as stated by Clifford Krauss, writer for the New York Times, in the article ‘Russian Oil Not Worth the Trouble, Some Traders Conclude’ published March 1 of this year. The other two top oil producers would be the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement that the U.S., as well as the European Union, have put sanctions on Russia since the start of the invasion. These sanctions have created difficulties for Russia’s ability to sell crude oil. Since the country is one of the biggest energy suppliers, this has made the oil prices skyrocket.
Thus, Americans across the country have been facing fluctuating, high fuel prices. For Delta students in particular, commuting to school has become more of a hassle.
“As a student whose income is very limited, it’s hard,” said student Steven Watan. “I’m on the swim team so pretty much every day I drive to Delta just for practice. I also deliver pizzas and now that gas prices are through the roof I’m now spending fifty-ish dollars for a full tank, where two years ago it cost me around 25-30 bucks.”
Although this is deemed as an inconvenience to U.S. citizen’s bank accounts, paying the high price of gas has been less of a concern for some.
“It appears to me that the basic American response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine places us on the right side of history,” said Wesley Swanson, history professor at Delta.
Swanson stated that he is more relieved for his family’s safety than he is distressed about the rising gas prices.
“As Russia is waging an unjustified, vicious war upon a peaceful neighbor and the only cost to us is an inconvenient rise in the cost of fuel and other commodities, I am minimally concerned about these costs. I am simply thankful that my children are not subject to daily bombardment.”
Despite a number of citizens struggling with paying the soaring fuel prices, some have also decided to do what they can to help with this war.
“My personal response has been to donate to the International Rescue Committee (formerly the International Rescue Committee of the Red Cross) because they are very active in relieving the suffering of the people of Ukraine,” said Swanson.