You’ve probably already heard the news that OPEC is cutting oil production in an effort to shore up prices. Experts say it will have little impact on Oregon gas prices.
As of Thursday, the average gas price of regular unleaded in Bend is $5.58 a gallon, about 4 1/2 cents short of the record set in June. Statewide, the average is $5.51, about four cents short of the record.
Prices here have been pushed to that territory due to a number of West Coast refinery issues in recent weeks, AAA has said.
AAA says the OPEC move could bump short-term prices by less than 10 cents per gallon. However, CBS News reports the cuts won’t begin until November, so Oregon gas prices could be headed down before that happens.
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The U.S. doesn’t import that much oil from Saudi Arabia or Russia anymore. Here in Oregon, little if any OPEC oil ever reaches our gas stations.
In addition, OPEC’s threat of cutting 2 million barrels a day is a bit of an exaggeration.
“Already, OPEC has not been meeting its production goals. So, the actual cuts will probably be in reality smaller than that, probably in the neighborhood of about 1 million barrels a day, wich is about one percent,” said Marie Dodds of AAA Oregon and Idaho. “So, yes, this probably will have an impact on our prices and send them up a little bit, but it doesn’t have the potential to have huge impacts on our prices unless there are other factor involved.”
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The bigger threat from the OPEC production cuts it the impact it could have on a possible global recession.
The Biden administration has already asked the Department of Energy to release another 10 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserves.
