Energy Sec Revises Forecast That $3 Gas Is 'Weeks' Away

Gas prices may have hit their high point, but even so, they're not heading back below $3 anytime soon, the nation's energy chief signaled in a revised prediction on Sunday. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who in March said sub-$3 gas was just "weeks" away, told CNN's State of the Union that he now can't say when Americans will see that level again, suggesting it may not happen until next year and noting that prewar prices look unusually low once inflation is factored in. The national average stands at $4.05 a gallon, up from $2.98 before US and Israeli strikes on Iran began in February, the New York Times reports. Energy prices will energy prices "go down" when the war ends, Wright said, per the Guardian.

Iran's move to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has squeezed global oil supplies, feeding higher prices and a political problem for President Trump, who campaigned on cheap fuel and had insisted the spike would be temporary. He now predicts prices in November will be roughly where they are today, a view Wright echoed. Democrats seized on Wright's remarks as evidence that administration officials have no effective strategy to bring down prices—"and they never have," Sen. Andy Kim posted. Industry voices cautioned that even resolving the crisis over the strait would not quickly restore the lower prices. Dan Eberhart, an oil executive and Republican donor, texted the Times that it's not that simple.