EXPLAINER: Why are oil prices high, and any relief in sight?

NEW YORK (AP) — Anyone who's bought food, paid rent or looked for a used car recently has come up against the billowing inflation that has engulfed the U.S. economy.

And, with surging oil prices keeping gasoline high, so has anyone who’s filled up a car.

Energy costs have been one of the main drivers of what’s become the highest inflation in a generation. In recent days, the price of a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude oil hit a seven-year high — $87 a barrel, a dizzying jump of about 36% since Dec. 1.

That price spike reversed a nearly equally steep plunge that began in late October. Because oil has a direct effect on the prices of gasoline and home heating oils, consumers have been battered by the wild volatility. For now, a gallon of regular gas is averaging $3.33, according to AAA, compared with $2.40 a year ago.

What’s going on?

For one thing, the ever-evolving state of the viral pandemic has played havoc with both supply and demand. As a consequence, energy has been gripped by violent price swings.

“COVID has upended everything,” said Andrew Gross, spokesman for AAA. “It’s even made a lack of predictability even more unpredictable.”

Other factors, too, have kept energy prices high. And most analysts say they think prospects for any relief soon are dim. Most urgently, Russia’s buildup of a military presence along the Ukraine border has raised fears of an imminent invasion and a consequential impact on global energy supplies.

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TENSIONS WITH RUSSIA

Russia supplies much oil and gas to the rest of the world — a supply that could be cut off if tensions escalate to the point of an invasion.

As it stands, Russia has deployed approximately 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border and has demanded that NATO promise it will...