DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Metro Atlanta resident Zay Money says he doesn’t like being at the mercy of anything, especially when it’s halfway around the world.
“We’re affected by everything they’ve got going on, and they’re thousands of miles away,” Money said while pumping gas at a Citgo station along Bouldercrest Road in DeKalb County.
The ongoing war in the Middle East is having an ongoing impact on the price at the pump.
“Oil has always been a global commodity,” Chris Edmonds said.
Edmonds is an energy analyst in midtown Atlanta.
He told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen that the U.S. produces more oil than it did 20 years ago -- up to 50% more.
It’s also a top priority in the Trump White House.
“It’s called drill, baby, drill,” Trump said during his recent State of the Union Address.
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But Edmonds said it cannot control the price of unleaded as much as we’d like.
“It was a great campaign slogan. It has an impact. But it’s not the impact that will insulate us from what happens around the world,” he said.
Edmonds said more oil pumped domestically, which is being done, helps ensure the U.S. will never run out of gas, but we can run out of cheap gas.
Money paid $10 for two and a half gallons.
“It’s hard. I ain’t lying. I’m gonna get a Tesla,” Money said.
Edmonds checked the oil futures market on Monday.
It’s priced by the month, and he said it’s going down in the months ahead, eventually all the way back down to pre-war levels.
He said the smart money is betting the war will be short-lived and the Strait of Hormuz will reopen.
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