Under the Trump administration, gas leases and pipeline permissions significantly expanded. But it takes years to develop oil fields and build pipelines, so the growth starts in a year or two but then takes as decade or more to fully mature. The short term increases that you talk about are the industry reaction to government C***d policies. People are driving considerably less when lockdowns occur, so gasoline sales volume has dropped. With fewer gallons sold, gasoline manufacturers have to raise wholesale prices, which leads to retail price increases.

But there is another government policy that drives short term prices too. Every year, fuel producers have to switch manufacturing processes and ingredients to comply with a plethora of different seasonal blend regulations across the country. That raises short term costs twice every year as manufacturers have to convert to producing different fuel stockpiles in advance of changeover dates. It's built into the term "supply and demand" but is entirely driven by government policies.

Under the Trump administration, gas leases and pipeline permissions significantly expanded. But it takes years to develop oil fields and build pipelines, so the growth starts in a year or two but then takes as decade or more to fully mature. The short term increases that you talk about are the industry reaction to government C***d policies. People are driving considerably less when lockdowns occur, so gasoline sales volume has dropped. With fewer gallons sold, gasoline manufacturers have to raise wholesale prices, which leads to retail price increases.

But there is another government policy that drives short term prices too. Every year, fuel producers have to switch manufacturing processes and ingredients to comply with a plethora of different seasonal blend regulations across the country. That raises short term costs twice every year as manufacturers have to convert to producing different fuel stockpiles in advance of changeover dates. It's built into the term "supply and demand" but is entirely driven by government policies.

And now the U.S. is again an Oil Exporting nation. Meaning coastal refineries and distribution pipelines from those refineries (from imported “offshore” oil) no longer are as relevant.

Smaller refineries closer to production make economic sense, the NIMBY, clean-up and environmental factors notwithstanding.

The “not-in-my-backyard” (NIMBY) mentality has always bothered me: people want the product or service, but are unwilling to accept the presence of a supplier. Really Strange.