MIDLAND, Texas — For the first time in 7 years, West Texas Intermediate crude oil topped $80 a barrel.
This news comes after promising numbers for seen over this past weekend.
Experts say the cause for the bump traces back to issues involving the White House.
"The Biden Administration is not helping the industry either, not letting people drill in certain areas like New Mexico and offshore things like that," said Kirk Edwards, Former Permian Basin Petroleum Association Chair. "So it's kind of a perfect storm right now for energy prices to be peaking."
Another reason has to do with OPEC still not flooding the market with foreign oil, and as a result, we'll probably see an increase in gasoline prices in West Texas.
Currently, California is seeing gas solid at five dollars a gallon. In the meantime, Edwards thinks that current oil prices are great for our local economy, and those prices have the potential to climb even higher. x