CARTHAGE, Miss.–What you are paying for gas in central Mississippi will likely be affected by a meeting on the other side of the world. When OPEC meets next week, they’ll decide whether to increase oil production or keep it the same.
OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. If OPEC leaders decide to increase production that means we will have more oil and the price will go down.
“Because they didn’t do it in October, I don’t know how much hope there is that they would do it at this meeting here in November,” said Patrick DeHaan, oil analyst with Gasbuddy.com.
As long as the U.S. is dependent on foreign oil and oil from the Middle East, we are at the mercy, essentially, of OPEC and the decisions they make. If the U.S. were to increase its own production, that could change the equation.
So much talk of $100 oil, but my question is how much will China have to throttle their economy back to keep it energized? Will that bring the rest of the global economy down- and oil demand with it? So much bullish oil talk, but what if China slows everyone enough we go bearish?
— Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) October 26, 2021
DeHaan is not optimistic about the possibility of OPEC changing its mind about increasing production in its Thursday, Nov. 4, meeting.
“Some of the comments that we’ve heard outside of the meetings from the Saudi oil minister, give me the belief that we probably will not see a meaningful increase,” he said.
The state average today is $3.07 per gallon. The national average is $3.39. Some of the most expensive gas being reported in central Mississippi: $3.22 at one station in Philadelphia; $3.19 at a station in Walnut Grove and it’s above average out on I-55 at Pickens, at $3.13 per gallon.
