Recent social media posts claim that oil was only $ 25 a barrel when former President Donald Trump left office and more than doubled in the first months of President Joe Biden’s administration. While the price of crude oil in the United States fell to less than $ 25 a barrel during Trump’s time in the White House, by his last day in the region, it had already reached about $ 53 a barrel. It continued to rise under Biden, reaching $ 60 a barrel in February.
Examples of a post that makes this claim can be found here, here, here
The report states that ‘oil is now $ 62 a barrel. When Trump left office, it was $ 25 a barrel. “Users commenting on it are asking for Biden’s accusation and calling his administration a ‘disaster’.
The first sentence of the report is mostly accurate. The spot price for crude oil paid at Cushing, Oklahoma (a standard measure of the US oil price) was $ 65.36 on March 15, the latest date of government information is available. For the first week of March, it hit a low of $ 59.70 and a high of $ 66.08. (here)
But on Trump’s last full day in office, the price of crude oil was $ 52.87 and it rose slightly to $ 53.26 the next day, when Biden became president that afternoon. These amounts were very similar to the day when Trump took office, with crude oil reaching $ 52.33 a barrel on Inauguration Day 2017.
The price of oil cratered during Trump’s last year in office reached $ 3.32 a barrel in the week of April 24, 2020. Consumers at the time paid the lowest prices on the pump in nearly 30 years, with gas falling to a national average of $ 1.77 per liter, according to management group AAA. (here, here)
According to most analysts, prices collapsed in April 2020 when the decline in demand combined with a global supply. The coronavirus pandemic led to a halt that kept many commuters from the roads and planes on the ground, while Saudi Arabia and Russia refused to curb their oil production. The price crash threatened the stability of US oil producers. (here)
Recently, global oil prices have started to fall again with rising stocks in the US, and demand may fall in countries that have suspended the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. According to AAA, the average price of a liter of gas in the United States is still $ 2,873, up from $ 2,519 last month. (here, gasprices.aaa.com/)
VERDICT
Partly false. Oil prices in the United States are currently around $ 62 per liter, but were more than $ 50 per liter when Trump left office.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.