President Biden Calls on Gas Station Operators to Drop Prices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Biden is calling on gas station operators to lower their prices for fuel per gallon to keep in line with dropping oil prices.

In the third meeting of the White House Competition Council on Sept. 26, Biden said that while crude prices fell sharply last month, it has taken a "long time" for the drop in price to trickle down to the consumer.

"We haven't seen the lower prices reflected at the pump though. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies are still making record profits — billions of dollars in profit," he said. "My message is simple. To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump: Bring down the prices you're charging at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product."

In an interview with the New York Post, Bob Bilbruck, CEO of business strategy firm Captjur, told the news outlet that Biden was "way off base."

"I grew up in the convenience store gas station business. Margins are razor-thin in these operations, and depending on their relationship in the buying ecosystem, they may be buying from a bulk fueler or directly from the producer [so] we are talking very little difference in prices," he said.

Since gas station owners work on small margins, they are under "constant competitive pressures from the station next door to keep their prices competitive," Bilbruck explained.

"This is simple supply and demand. You have less drilling going on and less oil and gas being refined — prices go up," he told the Post.

As of Sept. 26, the national gas average was $3.72. That price is 14 cents less than one month ago, but 54 cents more than a year ago, as Convenience Store News reported.

On Sept. 23, the price of oil slipped below $80 a barrel for the first time since January, primarily due to fears of a recession-led global economic slowdown.

Additionally, at the close of the formal trading session on Sept. 23, West Texas Intermediate decreased by $4.75 to settle at $78.74. Crude prices reached a point not seen since early January 2022, as the market continues to worry that efforts by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation could lead to a recession. If a recession occurs, crude demand and prices would likely decline, according to AAA.