re: $3.539 @ Loves exit 100 on 20/59

Another economics study foundation is that of "supply and demand". The US has the oil production capability of 13 million barrels per day. There is more than that available but at the time Biden took office, that was all of the infrastructure capability we had.
US federal policies reduced the amount of production by about 45%. To make up that shortfall, the US started purchasing 6 million barrels of oil per day from Russia. The price differential of the southeast vs the west coast is because of the cost differential between US/Saudi oil vs Russia oil. Sweet light crude (US and Saudi type of oil) costs less to process and burns cleaner than heavy "sour" crude (what you find in Russia).

When you remove 6 million barrels of oil per day from the world oil market, supply is reduced and the price goes up. Basic supply and demand. That price increase has very little to do with Russia and the "war". the prices went up before the war because supply was reduced. When you add the Russia "war" on top of that, supply takes a hit again. The US has more production capacity and a better grade of oil available and what Russia can produce. Had the US policy not chosen to remove US oil from the world market, our fuels cost would not have changed because Russia was not a factor before the change. We replaced our production capacity with oil from Russia and Iran. Russia and Iran made money that would have been part of the US economy.