GH, great, so put the stickers up! It was $2.30, not $3.20 in Jan 2021, $3.30 in Jan 2022, so 40% of increase is pre-putin.
But you will find it hard to fight perceptions: if you declare that you are going to kill the industry and ignore saudis, you will be blamed for the ensuring high prices. If you increase supply, then you won’t be blamed at $10/gallon.
This might be also an illustration on how gov people plan: they expected prices to go somewhat higher and gradually, getting their preferred policies at minimum political price. This was done by the domestic team that did not fully considered geo-political risks. As we got no margin, Putin saw his opportunity and used it as weapons. For example, were the Germans start building LNG terminal as they promised Trump but then reneged after the election, Russkies would have different calculation …