President Biden is scrambling to lower gas prices ahead of the midterm elections, but he has few tools to do so.

US gas prices have hit records, and the strategic petroleum release won't be able to bring them down.

"There are very few tools the US administration has because the biggest driver for gasoline prices are driven by global fundamentals," a top analyst told Insider.

The cost of gas is surging across the US, but drivers shouldn't expect any action taken by President Joe Biden's administration to bring down prices at the pump ahead of summer driving season.

The White House is staring down a global energy crunch sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as domestic supply strains across energy commodities.

"There are very few tools the US administration has because the biggest drivers for gasoline prices are driven by global fundamentals," Matt Smith, lead oil analyst, Americas at Kpler, told Insider. "You can make decisions on domestic supply, but if it doesn't have an impact on the global picture, it won't have an impact at the pump."

Gas prices have blown past record after record in recent weeks. On Friday, the average gallon of gas in the US hit $4.599 — roughly 51% higher than a year ago, according to AAA data. The average on Monday, after drivers hit the road for Memorial Day getaways, was $4.619.

Even prior to the war in Ukraine, however, supply was tight.

"[Before February], US inventories were low compared to historical benchmarks — for crude, gas and diesel," Smith said. "Meanwhile, demand was getting back to pre-pandemic levels while supply lagged as refining activity remained subdued."

At the end of March, President Biden moved to stem rising gas prices and compensate for the loss of Russian supply by ordering the release of 1 million barrels a day over six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

About 59% of the price of gas at the pump comes from the cost of crude in global markets, but the additional release of barrels, or even increases in US production, would only add a "proverbial drop in the bucket in the 100-million-barrel-per-day global oil market," Dallas Fed economists wrote earlier this month.

Yet, according to Smith, there's little else Biden can do.

"They already used their biggest bullet [with the strategic petroleum release]," Smith said. "That was probably the best shot of keeping prices down, since that crude is ultimately going to make its way to the global market, in theory."

Amid the scramble to bring down prices ahead of the midterm elections, the White House has reached out to the oil industry to inquire about firing up shuttered refineries, Bloomberg reported Friday. But there's a meager chance that comes to fruition, Smith explained.

"Companies had already assessed the cost of restarting and running these refineries and judged it an uneconomic proposition," he said. "There's little the US administration can do to get these refineries to restart — unless they wanted to invest the money themselves, which isn't going to happen."

Biden has not yet ruled out using export restrictions to ease soaring fuel costs, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granhold said Tuesday. She told CNN the President is "obsessed" with lowering prices.

But oil producers oppose potential curbs.

"Restricting US energy exports would only create further instability in the marketplace, diminish American energy leadership and represent a grave disservice to our allies," Frank Macchiarola of the American Petroleum Institute trade group, told Reuters.

The government has two more levers it could pull in an attempt to bring prices down, according to Smith, but those, too, will likely be ineffectual.

The US Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver for higher-ethanol gasoline blends for 20 days in May. This temporarily allows more gasoline to enter the market and expands the available volume of fuel — but Biden could move to allow the blend for the duration of the summer, and also lift anti-smog regulations.

"Blending ethanol into gasoline makes it cheaper, but it creates smog," Smith said.

One other move would be for Biden to implement a federal tax holiday on gasoline for the summer — which the governor of Georgia has already done to suspend the state's 29.1 cents-a-gallon motor fuel tax.

A tax holiday could help ease prices, Smith said, but it wouldn't cause any significant drop, especially against the backdrop of low energy inventories.

"Biden can't really control global oil prices even though they've given it their best shot with the strategic petroleum release," Smith said. "Now they're in a fairly desperate situation. It may be an impossible task."

Read the original article on Business Insider

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty ImagesThe arrival of a new Beyoncé project is an international holiday, one that requires a day off just to begin studying the myriad of references, themes, ideas, and trends that exist within it. Consider it a civic duty. Her seventh studio album, Renaissance, is no different: It’s an expansive, disco-and-dance-drenched ode to the nightclubs of the ’70s and queer Ballroom culture of the ’80s.It’s easy to get lost in the music entirely, especially with each track bleedin

The assault weapons ban passed after bipartisan gun legislation became law in June. The ban has no shot in the Senate thanks to broad GOP opposition.

Footage emerged as Russia accused of killing dozens of prisoners of war at barracks in Donetsk

An investigative report looking at Sharon Hill Borough's police policies and procedures in the wake of a police shooting that killed 8-year-old Fanta Bility last year was released late Friday, but the report was largely redacted, with any findings and recommendations obscured from public view. The three former officers who fired their weapons in the direction of a crowd leaving a high school football game just outside of Philadelphia, killing Bility and injuring three others, are facing manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges. The borough council voted to fire the officers and to hire an outside special counsel, promising accountability and transparency.

A woman and three children have died in what authorities are calling a "mass casualty" event in York County, Pennsylvania.

REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstAs rumors swirl that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress may be jetting off to Taiwan in the coming days, China is threatening a forceful retaliation. But U.S. lawmakers have their own message for China and President Xi Jinping: Don’t mess with us.Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, warned that if China has learned any lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine, Beijing ought to stand down.“China is playing with fire there

A new report named Taylor Swift as the number one celebrity with the most private jet CO2 emissions this year

Liz Truss is drawing up Thatcherite plans to give Number 10 more control over the economy, The Telegraph understands.

Intense summer thunderstorms that drenched parts of Las Vegas late Thursday — causing water to cascade from casino ceilings and pool on the carpet of a stadium-sized sports betting area — were part of a broad regional monsoon pattern that may repeat through the weekend, a National Weather Service official said Friday. “We’re getting right into the heart of the most active part,” said John Adair, a veteran meteorologist at the weather service office near Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

‘Like all you did was put my cookies in a box. Why would I tip you 20 per cent,’ one person writes on TikTok

SIGA Technologies, maker of the only available monkeypox treatment, is working to ramp up manufacturing for broader global distribution.

Gov. Andy Beshear said four young siblings were among the 16 dead in Eastern Kentucky after floodwaters wiped out communities and hundreds of homes

(Bloomberg) -- Rishi Sunak defended his surprise vow to scrap value added tax on domestic energy bills and denied being inconsistent on fiscal policy as he sought to burnish his economic credentials in the race to become the UK’s next prime minister.Most Read from BloombergThe Crypto Collapse Has Flooded the Market With Rolex and PatekAlito Decries 'Hostility to Religion' in First Public Remarks Since Abortion Decision Rockstar Games Cleaned Up Its Frat-Boy Culture — and Grand Theft Auto, TooBid

The ruling comes after months of disputes over who is responsible for paying settlements with victims of sexual abused while Scouts.

"We know what we're getting with Trump and Biden," said a voter who participated in the USA TODAY/Suffolk poll and would prefer other choices.

While Trump and Putin did meet while Trump was in office, there is no evidence the two men met recently in the United States.

Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were reportedly killed after the shelling of a prison in a separatist eastern region. Latest updates.

Liz Truss won the backing of former Tory leadership rival Tom Tugendhat on July 29, a major boost for her campaign.

The richest 1 per cent are responsible for half of the carbon emissions caused by flying

The farm tractor was pulling a flatbed trailer with 12 people onboard when it overturned.