Chris Wright doesn’t rule out $5 gas as Iran war strains global fuel supply
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he isn’t willing to predict short- or medium-term gasoline prices, but acknowledged the threat of gas exceeding $5 per gallon could be driven by the Iran war. Speaking on NBC’s *Meet the Press*, he argued the U.S. is in a strong position-especially because it’s the world’s largest natural gas producer, with no rise in natural gas prices-while admitting gasoline and diesel costs are likely to stay elevated during the conflict and then fall afterward.
Wright stressed the U.S. must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He also pointed to volatility tied to uncertainty around the strait of Hormuz,where U.S. forces are blockading shipments,contributing to higher global energy prices that reach pumps in the U.S. Gasoline was reported at about $4.52 per gallon on Sunday. Wright added that increased oil production from countries such as Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil could help improve the outlook, noting the U.S. imports more oil via the Gulf of America.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright did not rule out the possibility of gas reaching over $5 per gallon due to the Iran war, saying he is “avoiding price predictions.”
This past week, Wall Street raised concerns about the possibility of gas prices topping $5 per regular gallon, with JP Morgan Chase Co. analysts warning that marker “can no longer be dismissed.” On Meet the Press on Sunday morning, NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed Wright on whether or not he thought Americans should expect $5 per gallon regular gas prices in the near future.
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“I can’t predict the price of energy in the short-term, or even the medium-term, but what we’re doing is ending a 47-year conflict,” Wright said. “Iran has fought death to the United States for 47 years, death to Israel. And as we saw when the conflict broke out, they attacked all of their neighbors in the Middle East that had no involvement in the conflict whatsoever.”
Wright doubled down on insisting that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. He reiterated that he was avoiding making price predictions when Welker asked again about the $5 mark but said the “United States is in a tremendous position.”
“We’re by far the world’s largest producer of natural gas,” Wright said. “There’s been no rise in the price of natural gas. That’s the largest primary energy source for the United States, that’s for home heating, that’s for electricity. Gasoline and diesel prices are up, and they will remain up while this conflict’s in place, and then they will come back down.”
Gas prices reached $4.52 per gallon on Sunday, according to AAA, rising about 7 cents since the week prior and about 37 cents since the month prior. The hostilities in gas prices and oil markets stem largely from the uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. is blockading.
Iran had choked off the crucial oil shipping strait at the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war, and the uncertainty over whether or not ships can safely pass through the waterway has wreaked havoc in global energy markets, spiking global prices at the pump, including in the U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that the market volatility is temporary and that prices will fall quickly once the war is over.
“When the war is over, gas will fall down at levels that you’ve never seen before,” Trump said this week.
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Wright said Sunday morning that oil production in places like Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil will be a major boon to American gas prices, as the U.S. brings in oil through the Gulf of America.
“There’s an incredibly bright outlook for growing global energy production, which allows the economy to grow and prices to remain low,” Wright said.
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