Northeast Georgian gas station owners and drivers alike are bracing for the economic impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which economic experts speculate will drive up gas prices in the United States.
With oil prices now at over $100 a barrel, gas in some parts of the US has reached as high as $5 per gallon. In Northeast Georgia, those prices are currently sitting at between $3.15 and $3.60 per gallon, but they’re expected to climb.
Sam Patel, who works at Chevron in Demorest, says that while corporate hasn’t told them to increase their prices yet, it’s something they’re expecting.
“It’s hard to tell [what the outcome will be],” she says. “But of course, it’s going to affect business, it’s going to affect people if the price goes up, everyone is going to get affected somewhere at some point.”
She says that one of her customers told her this morning that they wouldn’t be surprised if prices go up as soon as tomorrow. But she says they’ll keep their prices where they are until corporate tells them otherwise.
Jesse Gudger, who works at Citgo in Clarkesville, says that gas prices going up are inevitable, and that they will have an impact on the community.
“If fuel goes up, that’ll make everything go up,” Gudger says. “It’s something that’s going to have to play out, we just hope for the best.”
He says that at gas station convenience stores, they make a very limited commission on the sales of gas. He says that at most, they make a few cents on each gallon. With prices going up, it doesn’t mean gas stations and convenience stores at the local level will make any extra money, it could actually hurt business, especially with people trying to avoid high prices.
Not everyone believes that the threat in Ukraine is the reason gas prices are going up, though.
John Stumpf, who was filling up his daughter’s tank at Ingles in Clarkesville, says that increased gas prices aren’t from a threat in Ukraine, they’re from corporations entangled with government looking for a way to profit off of civilians.
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“I think that it’s a ruse for our government to jack up gas prices,” Stumpf said. “I think it’s a manufactured fear tactic.”
But while he may feel that there isn’t much of a level of threat, consumers like Clay Perry of Mt. Airy are worried that prices going up any further on their gas could be financially detrimental to him.
“I can barely afford to fill up now, I don’t know what it’d be like if [prices] got any higher,” Perry said. “Two years ago, I could fill up on $40, now it’s $80, and that’s not good for anybody.”
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