I swear it's the bane of our existence. Something we're constantly monitoring...and cursing most of the time.

Gas prices.

Once again, the price of gas has risen another eight cents per gallon on average in Texas.

The silver lining in all of it though is that Amarillo finds itself at the bottom of the list as far as the average cost of a gallon of gas in the state.

When you factor in all the cities in Texas, the average cost of a gallon of gas is $3.08. In Amarillo however, the average cost is $2.97 per gallon.

The bigger question is what's causing the constant rise? One thing people love to point to is the President. It doesn't matter who is in office, when gas is on the rise, it's the President's fault.

I don't know how much truth there is to this or not, I'm not personally the most political person in the world, but there ARE some things that are directly related to the most current rise in prices.

DECREASE IN DEMAND

One thing that causes the rise and fall of gas prices is demand. When there is a higher demand for gas, the prices have a tendency to go down due to the amount being purchased from the oil fields and refineries.

When the demand for gas is low, less is purchased from the direct sources and they have to raise the price of barrels, and that gets passed on to us. Right now, the demand has decreased, therefore we see the prices trending up.

POLITICS ARE IN PLAY

But not how you think they are. It's not United States politics, it's the growing tension and situation between Russia and Ukraine. With Russia being a part of OPEC+, the concerns and instability there are pushing crude prices up.

WINTER WEATHER

Throw in the lovely winter weather we're experiencing and that will drive prices up as well. Cold weather disrupts refineries, therefore the fuel isn't produced on the same timeframe it usually is. When the refineries slow down, so does delivery to refill pumps. We are the ones who truly pay the price for it as they will increase prices to slow down the amount of people on the road.

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