GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Six months into the war in Iran, oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remain at a standstill, and gas prices continue to rise — but a GasBuddy analyst says refinery attacks may be doing even more damage at the pump.
Fighting is ongoing, and traffic through the Strait has continued to see delays, but Patrick De Haan with GasBuddy says Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries are having an outsized impact on what Americans pay for gas.
“It’s all been about refineries. Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries have continued. Last week saw another major refinery, 300,000 barrels a day, being attacked by Ukraine. To put that in perspective, the massive BP refinery in Northwest Indiana is about 430,000 barrels a day,” De Haan said.
Even as oil prices fall, gas prices continue to rise when refineries are not operating to process that oil into fuel. More and more refineries have been taken out of commission by the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
But Russian refinery outages are not the only factor driving prices higher. A major refinery in Kuwait is also affected by the Strait of Hormuz slowdown…