news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

with less than two months to go until the u.s. election voting day, both international and domestic oil prices have fallen sharply, which may provide support to democratic presidential candidate harris.

specific market conditions show that as of the close of friday (september 6), international crude oil futures prices fell by more than 2%, both hitting new lows since june 2023. among them, the wti futures price for october delivery fell 7.99% this week, and the brent crude futures price for november delivery fell 9.82% this week.

at the same time, rbob gasoline futures prices fell nearly 9.4% this week, closing at around $1.90 per gallon, a level last reached in november 2021. this means that this gasoline price indicator has fallen below the level before the outbreak of the russian-ukrainian conflict.

rbob gasoline futures main contract price

according to data from the american automobile association (aaa), the average price of regular unleaded gasoline as of friday was $3.296 per gallon, down more than 10% from its peak in april this year, which means that retail gasoline prices have also fallen.it fell to its lowest level in nearly six months.

analysts believe that the outlook for the international crude oil market is bleak, coupled with lower-than-expected demand in the united states, gasoline prices may continue to fall, which is expected to reduce the intensity of republican presidential candidate trump's attacks on harris over the cost of living issues.

"harris can't lower the price of anything because her energy policies are driving up the cost of everything," trump said at the economic club of new york on thursday, promising that if re-elected he would take steps to increase fuel supplies with the goal of cutting energy prices in half.

bob mcnally, president of rapidan energy consulting and white house energy adviser during the bush administration, said that some voters had previously accused the white house of causing high oil prices, and now the drop in oil prices may win harris some of their support.

one poll showed that about 30% of voters in swing states believe that gasoline prices are the most important economic issue they face. mcnally said: "harris is lucky that the most noticeable part of the cost of living (gas prices) is falling."

patrick dehaan, director of petroleum analysis at gasbuddy, a software company that tracks oil prices, said that by election day in november, as many as 30 states could have gas prices below $3 a gallon. “the timing looks very favorable (for harris).”

“we may also see the national average gas price fall below the $3 mark for the first time since biden took office,” dehaan said. “that’s something americans haven’t seen in a long time.”

while trump may lose a very powerful attack point, it is important to note that retail gasoline prices are still nearly 40% higher than when biden took office in january 2021.

trump promised on thursday that if elected he would declare a "national emergency" in the energy sector to stimulate domestic energy production and quickly approve more new oil and gas extraction projects.

“republicans have been bringing this up a lot and they think it will resonate with lower-income voters who drive long distances,” said kevin book, managing director of consulting firm clearview energy partners.