Скачать или смотреть Oil is a GLOBAL Commodity; the US Becoming a Net Importer Isn't Why Gas in the US is Expensive

Obviously can't be too nuanced/detailed in a short.

I've seen the argument that if Biden didn't stop new fracking developments, gas wouldn't be expensive (not just cheaper, but expensive *at all*).

I've seen the argument that because the US doesn't use that much of Russian gas that the uptick in pricing necessarily means corporate profiteering/price gouging.

Both of these types of narratives fail to recognize how it's not just about the "US supply", and how what's going on outside the US affects prices inside.

The amount of natural gas that could've been made from additional fracking would be nowhere near the amount necessary to cover the shortfall. A little cheaper? Yeah, sure. Crisis averted? No. Nor could it somehow make US prices way cheaper than the rest of the world; the US domestic market would just sell abroad if it could make more money that way.

It's important to emphasize that, while "energy independent" sounds nice, being a slight net importer and a slight net exporter is basically the same thing. The "net" is important - US firms sell energy elsewhere, even when we are a net importer, when they can make more profit abroad; it's not as though the US is filling it's own energy cup before overflowing exports. Domestic consumption isn't "first dibs."

Luckly there aren't too many people making the Russia type argument, but there's some. The point is that the market is global. Even if the US doesn't consume much Russian oil, a decrease in the supply of it on the market still affects the price of the oil the US does consume. That's because when people/countries who were consuming it switch their consumption (because sanctioins or what have you), the demand for replacements goes up, along with price. Those replacements include those who produce US consumed energy (whether it's import or domestic), driving price up, even if it isn't the "Russian" gas being consumed.

Now, one thing that does bear concern is that crude isn't too expensive, or at least the price at the pump is up by a margin much larger than crude. So maybe there's some profiteering going on (not saying there is, just that I don't feel qualified to make that judgement). There are probably some factors that affect this that I don't know of (like, maybe supply is insured and such insurance, given the political climate and uncertainty, is expensive).

The point is that "most of what we consume isn't Russian oil, so the hike in price must be profiteering" narrative is wrong because it fails to look at energy as a global good. So too do narratives that argue that Biden's stop on new fracking (ie, old production is still running) is somehow the (primary) reason that gas is expensive also fails to look at energy as a global good. Gas is expensive in Norway too; the people in Norway aren't blaming Biden.