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What Causes High Gas Price

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Submitted By bidbila
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What Causes High Gas Prices?
There are various factors that play a role in the price consumers pay at the pump. The major cause in the fluctuation of gas prices is crude oil. Crude oil is that main ingredient involved in the manufacturing of gas. One body that has great influence over the worldwide price of oil is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC is made up of twelve of the world’s biggest oil-producing nations which include: Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Since OPEC’s nations produce so much of the world’s oil supply, they can control the level of production. Oil is one of the world's most important commodities, and as a result, the nations that control the majority of the world's supply have a great deal of power over its availability. In addition, conflicts such as war in an oil-producing region can also bring up the price of gasoline. Andre Gerolymatis, a history professor at Simon Fraser University, says political upheaval in Ukraine and Russia's military incursion into Crimea could be putting pressure on prices. The reason, of course, is that 40 per cent of Europe's gas and oil comes from Russia, and it comes through the Ukraine. So there's the potential that this could be disrupted, and that means that the Europeans would have to go elsewhere for gas, and that would drive the prices up. (Bains, 2014)

Bibliography
Bains, M. (2014, March 5). Russia-Ukraine crisis causes Vancouver gas prices to spike. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. April 3,

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