Great Lakes Wire

The national gas average has not dropped in the last month, nearly two months after President Joe Biden's announced emergency oil release, and gas prices in Michigan have risen 63 cents in the last 30 days.

The national gas price average is $4.60, as of May 26, according to AAA.

"Gasoline has either remained flat or risen every day since April 24 and has set a new record daily since May 10," AAA said.

All 50 states' gasoline averages are above $4 per gallon for the first time in U.S. history. In Michigan, the average is $4.56, which has risen dramatically in the last month.

Biden announced on March 31 the release up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next six months, to curb high gas prices. He said there would be a slight delay in declining gas prices by days or weeks, but the prices would in fact be expected to drop.

"(Gas prices) could come down fairly significantly. It could come down [to] a better part of anything from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon. It’s unknown at this point,” Biden said, according to CNBC Television.

The national gas price average, as of May 26, is an 11.7% climb from a month ago when the average was $4.12 per gallon. On March 31, the day of the SPR release, gas was $4.22 per gallon, 38 cents cheaper than today.

Biden announced plans to replenish the SPR supply, starting with the purchase of 60 million barrels of crude oil, according to CNN Business. However, this will only cover one-third of the supply from president's record release and will take years, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Biden has yet to announce any plans to increase domestic oil production.

“According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 4.8 million bbl to 220.2 million bbl last week,” AAA said on May 23. “Meanwhile, gasoline demand increased from 8.7 million barrels per day to 9 million barrels per day. Tighter supply and increased demand have pushed pump prices higher. This supply/demand dynamic and volatile crude prices will keep upward pressure on pump prices.”