Top oil executives have issued a grave warning to the Trump administration that American gas prices could spike dramatically again in the coming weeks.
Iran has shuttered the Strait of Hormuz since Donald Trump launched his war against the Islamist regime in late February, choking off as much as one-fifth of the world’s crude supply. The president has spent those months casting the disruption as temporary, even as drivers were continuing to pay a national average of $4.26 per gallon as of Wednesday.
Four oil industry figures told Politico Thursday that fuel stockpiles have now been drained to perilously low levels, and that they have alerted top administration officials and Cabinet secretaries to the accelerating crisis.
One of those figures, who spoke anonymously about the closed-door discussions, said the message had reached the very top of the administration. “We’re at dangerously low levels already,” the executive said, warning about “what’s coming in mid-to-late June.”
“I hope they are paying attention to inventories right now,” they added. “You’re hitting tank bottom.”
The White House has flatly rejected that account. “Politico’s anonymous sources are wrong,” one official said. An Energy Department spokesperson added there have been “no such discussions” about inventories.
The Daily Beast contacted both for further comment on this story. “President Trump and his energy team anticipated short-term market disruptions, communicated them openly to the American people, and implemented an aggressive plan to mitigate any impacts,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.
“When the President forces this conflict to a successful end, gas prices will drop back to multi-year lows and global energy markets will be much more stable in the long term,” they added. The Energy Department did not immediately respond.
The private alarm mirrors what the oil giants are now saying out loud. Exxon Mobil and Chevron warned last week that pump prices could leap if stockpiles keep sliding.
Exxon senior vice president Neil Chapman, speaking at an investor event, said dated Brent crude could climb to $150 or $160 a barrel, according to Politico. “Once you get to that point, then you’ll see prices shoot up,” he said.
A second oil executive was blunter about the cost to households. “Don’t think that an open strait is going to mean your July 4 gasoline bill isn’t going to be higher than what it is today,” they told the outlet. “It’s going to be.”
Pain at the pump is already battering Trump in the polls. His net approval rating has now sunk to -25, according to YouGov’s latest survey, representing the lowest the group has ever recorded for any president since it began in 2009. A further survey by NPR found that more than 8 in 10 Americans say the cost of fuel is squeezing their finances, with a strong majority blaming the president.
Those frustrations are increasingly evident in forecasts for the November midterms. Democrats have racked up an almost 7-point lead in voter intentions ahead of what is now shaping up to be a bruising battle for Republicans to retain control of both the House and the Senate.
