Keystone Today

Pennsylvanians have recently been feeling an increased pain at the pump more so than any other state in the Midwest. In just the last seven days, the state average has risen 14 cents, inching closer and closer to the $4 mark. Analysts say higher prices for crude oil and increased domestic demand are the main factors currently affecting the price hikes.

According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the current gas price average in Pennsylvania is $3.94 per gallon. One week ago the average was $3.80, representing a 14-cent weekly increase. The national average is currently $3.91 per gallon.

"Pennsylvania gas prices continue to rise again, even as the national average has leveled out at the current time," ABC27 News wrote in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

Crude oil prices have surged and are once again above $90 a barrel. As of Monday, AAA reported the price to sit at $92.64 per barrel – a price hike that occurred last week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, announced intentions to cut crude production by 2 million b/d next month. High demand also continues to weigh on the market, but analysts are hopeful these concerns will be short-lived.

Amidst rising fuel prices back in November 2021, OPEC and its oil-producing partners rejected President Joe Biden’s calls for increased production, retorting that if the United States believes the world’s economy needs more energy, then it should use the capability to increase production itself, Forbes reported.

In August of this year, Reason.com reports that U.S. Senate candidate and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D-PA) ignored the principles of supply and demand as he thought high gas prices should be "a matter for law enforcement." According to the source, Fetterman said, "It's time we crack down on the big, price gouging corporations that are making record profits while jacking up prices for all of us," although high prices were confirmed to be a result of the oil supply being "constrained by multiple factors."

After signing a series of executive orders that prioritized climate change in early 2021, Biden has taken action to remove fossil fuels entirely in America – from killing the Keystone XL pipeline, to banning oil and gas leasing on federal land, which had provided around one-fifth of the total production in the United States as of 2019, according to the report "Europe's Energy Crisis: A Warning to America" issued by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.