Just in time for spring and summer, oil prices are on the rise. The average for West Texas Intermediate crude finished around $75 a barrel this week, up by more than seven percent from a week ago. Analysts blame several factors for the increase, including lower production by the U.S. and Russia, and growing global demand, particularly from China which only reopened from its pandemic lockdowns a few months ago.

As for where prices are going, a good bet is continued upward. A recent industry survey predicts an 85-dollar average for crude over the next year. "People are expecting prices to certainly come up from where they are right now, and hover in that 80 to 90 dollar-a-barrel range," says Tim Stewart, president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association. "But there could be any type of world event that happens that pushes that above the 90 dollar range into the 100 dollar range."

Stewart tells KTRH a combination of growing demand and flat domestic production is fueling the rise in oil prices. "We've got a lot of inflationary pressure that is still hitting our industry really hard, and workforce issues as well," he says. "And so what you're seeing is rig counts have come down a bit."

"At the same time, forecasts right now are seeing increased demand right now by more than a million barrels a day, most of that coming from China," he continues.

While U.S. production remains flat, higher oil prices will make it even more difficult to refill our depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserves. The Biden administration pledged last year to begin refilling the reserves when oil hit $70 a barrel, but has done nothing so far despite oil being at or near that price for months. "The secretary of energy just said we're probably not going to be able to do that this year, there's too many other things we're working on," says Stewart. "It's like waiting for that phone call for that second date, we're still waiting and waiting."