why are gas prices so high

WHY ARE GAS PRICES SO HIGH

since i moved here to santa barbara i rarely look at my gas gauge any longer
in fact i tend to throw my mask on the shelf in front of the gauge so i usually cant see it

its only when i glance over at it and see it flashing at me warning me im about out of gas that i realize i need to stop to get gas
heck
sometimes i put in more gas then the listed cars tank capacity

i hardly ever notice the price of gas
its always high here
so if its high i just pay the man when i buy gas and move on

i no longer commute every day and rarely drive my car outside of this area
my car gets about 40 mpg so i dont need to fill up my tank very often

i saw this article on why the gas prices are high
it seemed to be a simple explanation as to why our gas is high

its not bidens fault or trumps fault
its 
the covid pandemics fault

the average cost of gas is around $3.22
prepandemic it was around $2.00
here you can usually add at dollar or more to that to get our price
so
we are use to high prices
i just pay the man and move on

when the pandemic hit folks quit driving as much
folks stayed at home didnt travel as much and many worked from home

where we noticed it a lot was driving on the 101 and 405 to los angeles
during the week during rush hours it was like a sunday morning drive
zooom zooom and we were there

now
folks are traveling more and going back to school and going back to work
you can see the increase in traffic on the 101 and 405
its back to the prepandemic traffic

more driving more demand

apparently the refineries during the pandemic slowed down production
many closed
so
there is less gas capacity is in the system

we are now close to the prepandemic demand for gas
but
we arent producing as much gas as we were in the prepandemic era

supply and demand
decrease supply and increase demand means higher prices

either decrease demand which isnt going to happen
or
increase supply which will happen eventually
the refineries have to reopen and some have to rebuilt
it will take time

in the article there is a graph that predicts by the end of january the average price will be less than $3.00
and it will continue to drop over the next year

increasing release from the national reserves wont have much effect
or
doing congressional investigations
thats what politicians on both sides do to show they are doing something

but
really 
its just supply and demand

right now
our demand is outstripping our supply 
so
we pay more for gas

so
thats why gas prices are so high

sounds logical to me

the organicgreen doctor