Gas prices have also been volatile as the economy has reopened. Oil-producing nations finally agreed to cuts and have been operating mostly in lock-step for months, raising output slowly to keep prices high.īut the conciliatory nature of the agreement seems to have stalled, with OPEC Plus failing for days to come to a decision on production, and oil prices have fluctuated as traders await a result. But even prices at that level have not been reached since 2018, and they are far above the prices from early in the pandemic, when the price of a barrel hovered around $40.Īs travel ground to a halt early last year, Russia, which is part of the group of allied oil producers known as OPEC Plus, refused to cut production, sparking a price war with Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC, that helped drive prices to rock-bottom. benchmark, down more than 2.5 percent to about $73.15. In California, which generally has some of the highest gas prices in the country, a gallon goes for $4.31.Ĭrude oil fell off its recent highs on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. Washington has seen one of the biggest spikes, with the price of regular gasoline rising 20 cents in the past month to $3.81, according to AAA. “Everything bad that could happen is happening all at once.” “It’s too much for too many people that lost their jobs or have low-paying jobs,” Mr.

Skyrim rise in the east