A recent study found that U.S. consumers are paying more than their counterparts around the world as a result of a sharp rise in fuel prices caused by supply disruptions stemming from the U.S. war with Iran, including the effective closure and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
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The study, conducted by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finland-based nonprofit organization that supports efforts to move away from fossil fuels, concluded that U.S. consumers have incurred an average of $471 in additional costs due to higher fuel prices since the Iran war began on February 28. This compares with an average increase of about $60 for consumers worldwide.
The center said U.S. consumers are paying more because they rely more heavily on less fuel-efficient private vehicles, travel longer distances, and have been relatively slow to switch to electric vehicles.
To calculate the additional costs, the study compared fuel prices in January and February this year with prices recorded during the rest of the year.
The study, which tracked fuel prices and consumption levels across 169 countries from early March through mid-October, found that consumers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Belgium also faced significantly higher increases in fuel costs.
The world paid an additional $468 billion for fuel during the period, including $160 billion in the United States, $54 billion in China and $17 billion in Canada.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has said that higher fuel prices are a small cost consumers must bear to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and that oil and fuel prices will fall once the war ends. The war, however, has lasted longer than the administration initially expected.
Source: Reuters
