Why would you cut domestic oil production and then keep buying it aboard without having any kind of backup in motion? That logic makes no sense. Could it be that the gas price increases when 2021 came around were the cause of people either getting vaccinated and then driving again or people being forced back to work and then driving again? Demand went down during the pandemic and then came up when people started using gas again. To answer your question: what do you think they're doing right now? Why do you think the inflation narrative is being spread far and wide? Oil companies haven't invested in their business in decades. They use their influence to buy off politicians from both parties and shut down any possibilities for a shift away from their oil. Did you know we've had the ability to make cars with over 100 mpg since the 80s? This current predicament isn't the cause of Democrats. It's what happens when oil and money control the world. Vote for the person that has a platform and a plan, not platitudes and slogans.

Take pictures of the area, especially noting any signage or lack thereof. They can help show that you were in the right, if you were.

The war drove up fuel prices some for sure, maybe less so in the US than the rest of the world. Prices rose in the time before the war because the major energy companies saw an opportunity to start price gouging people due to the pandemic and jumped on the chance. Refer to the previous person's post noting record corporate profits. The current federal government was actually reducing gas prices for a while before OPEC decided to screw people over again by cutting production.