An Insight about Gas Prices and Shortages

Let’s be real here. Fossil fuels (including natural gas) are neither unlimited nor refillable. They are resources being constantly yet incrementally extracted until their eventual and certain scarcity. So, what would happen to our way of living when that happens? What should we rely on then? In an era where a handful of undeniably beneficial alternatives have already been presented before us, we still adamantly stick to a “Plan A” that would fail us once and for all at a certain point in the future.

Proofs of this eventual failure are materializing worldwide even now, mostly in the form of three main aspects:

1. Scarcity is looming ahead.
2. The ongoing territorial conflicts or disputes that come on the heels of this scarcity.
3. The increased use of fossil fuels causes worsening environmental implications.

Some nations have already faced the heavy brunt of fuel or gas shortages. As winter closes in on Europe and the United States, residents dread the moment when they have to deal with high electric bills that come with the surfeit use of gas-powered heaters to stay warm.

Meanwhile, the UK enters its second week of gas shortages — triggered by the lack of truck drivers to deliver the supply, in a situation that was further exacerbated by the aftereffects of both the Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. Even when the military is being dispatched to fill in the blanks and get the supply running back in order, it still didn’t alleviate residents’ worries who have resorted to panic-buying for whatever is left, often resulting in heated and violent altercations.

This is reminiscent of a similar incident that happened in the US a few months ago when its citizens went on a buyout craze in the aftermath of a cyberattack on its key Colonial pipeline that led to a halt in gas supplies. The hoarding opens up a vulnerability that is often exploited in the form of soaring prices at the heat of the moment. At the same time, those who are in dire need of such resources are left behind, ignored by those who had the wealth and impatience to stockpile them despite reassurances that the supply will come back soon.

However, it would be a matter of time when these assurances become obsolete as well.