Trump’s energy chief promised gas prices would fall once the Iran war ends, while taking a swipe at Democrats for blocking a new oil supply off California’s coast.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright made the declaration on Sunday in an NBC interview, assuring Americans that once the war ends ‘in a few weeks,’ gas prices will become more affordable.
‘I think [a few more weeks is] the likely timeframe,’ Wright said to Kristen Welker on Meet the Press.
‘After the conflict is over, you’ll start to see prices come back down,’ he added, calling the war a ‘short-term disruption to the flow of energy.’
‘Americans will feel it for a few more weeks,’ he admitted. ‘But at the end, we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies.’
Gas prices averaged $2.94 on March 1, the day before the war, and jumped to a staggering $3.70 by Saturday, according to GasBuddy.
But the energy chief said there’s a ‘very good chance’ gas prices could drop below $3 per gallon before summer.
‘There’s no guarantees in war. The time frame’s still not entirely clear, but I think that’s certainly a goal of the administration,’ he told Welker.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday and assured Americans the cost of gas will decrease in the next upcoming weeks
Wright’s comments follow the war in Iran, where Iranian leaders are striking oil facilities and vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed
As Iranian leaders keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, oil prices continue to soar. This key waterway lets oil ships pass through, so if it’s blocked, getting oil becomes much harder.
Wright mentioned there will be ‘some elevated pricing’ of oil until the war in Iran ends, noting the administration’s actions to mitigate it.
‘We just announced yesterday bringing on a meaningful amount of oil production in the State of California from off-shore that California has fought foolishly to prevent new American oil to go into their own state,’ he said, blasting the blue state’s leaders.
‘And we said, “Enough is enough.” And we’ve got new oil production coming on in California. So lots of actions we’re taking to mitigate this price rise.’
On Friday, the administration ordered Houston-based oil company Sable Offshore to restart oil production at the Santa Ynez Unit, located in federal waters off the California coast.
According to the Department of Energy, the facility can produce 50,000 barrels of oil per day, generating a whopping ’15 percent increase to California’s in-state oil production, enough to replace nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month.’
California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed these orders, saying in a statement: ‘This is an attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators are facing criminal charges and prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting.’
California Governor Gavin Newsom pushed back on the new federal orders, saying the state will push forward with their lawsuit
Gas prices soar past $7 per gallon at the Chevron station in Menlo Park, California on Thursday
‘California will not stand by while the Trump administration attempts to sacrifice our coastal communities, our environment, and our $51 billion coastal economy.
‘The Trump administration and Sable are defying multiple court orders, and we will see them back in court.’
California sued the federal government for the approval of restarting pipe lines along the coast back in January.
Democratic state Attorney General Rob Bonta argued that the state is in charge of the pipelines in Santa Barbara and Kern counties, and the administration shouldn’t take over that control.