LOGA: Ban on Russian oil will impact cost more
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association is reacting to the ban on Russia's oil imports.
LOGA President Mike Moncla says while the ban could impact gas prices here, it's not the cause of high prices at the pump.
He says Biden's restrictions on the oil industry has made prices skyrocket. Moncla says even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine a few weeks ago, gas was triple the price it was a year and a half ago.
He says President Biden's cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline and lease sales offshore, as well as his ban on federal permits to drill is what's caused these record-high gas prices.
This war is only exacerbating it.
"Our prayers go out to the Ukrainian people. I can't believe that I'm seeing what I'm seeing on TV to those people. I hope that this conflict can go away quickly, and we can get back to normal. Now what is normal? Normal was already, as I mentioned, three times as high as it was a year and a half ago. So if we're going to ban Russian oil going forward, it might be harder, more expensive at the pump for some time," Moncla said.
He says the U.S. gets 500,000 barrels of oil field products from Russia every day. That may seem like a lot, but he explains the U.S. consumes 19 million barrels of oil a day. He says that's not a huge percent of what the U.S. consumes.
Moncla explains that Russia could retaliate though by cutting off other commodities that could further affect oil and gas prices in the U.S.
He believes, however, cutting off oil imports from Russia was a step in the right direction for the people in Ukraine.
"I think we had to take a step. Those people are dying at their homes, and I think the American people, there was a poll where 72% of Americans said they don't mind paying more at the pump to cut Russian oil off. So I think that tells a statement of America and our freedom and how much we love our freedom. We don't like to see other people being taken advantage of like that, so I think it speaks volumes to our country," he told News Ten.
Moncla says he believes paying more at the pump now is a small price to pay compared to what Ukrainians are going through right now.
Furthermore, he says it's impossible to predict how high the price of gas will increase over the next few months as the war continues.