Why are US gas prices soaring when America barely uses Russian oil?

Its the same in the UK. A couple of weeks back, just before the invasion, someone posted a link here to a British Government statement which effectively said that any proposed sanctions on Russian gas wouldn't affect the UK, as we don't buy any Russian gas. And that the UK is pretty much self-sufficient in gas and oil, thanks to North Sea supplies.

Fat forward a couple of weeks and the same government is telling us that rising energy prices are because we're at the mercy of global markets.

I may be economically naive but I don't see why the government of a country with its own oil and gas supplies can't mandate the price for said oil and gas when sold domestically but, instead, have to follow global market rates. If it's OK to say "Thou shalt not buy from or sell to Russia" why is it not OK to say "Thou shalt not shaft thy domestic market"?

BTW --the price of diesel where I live has gone up from £1,56 / litre to £1,80 / litre in the past couple of weeks. I don't know what that equates to in whatever groats or hogsheads you Yanks buy fuel in. But I reckon you're still getting a bargain, compared to us.

As a comparison, the price is usually around the £1,50 mark and, during lockdown when no-one was driving to work, it was £1,13 at one point. I wish I'd stockpiled a tanker full then!

Because there is a world wide oil market and a major reduction of the worlds supply of oil via Russian sanctions, while the demand stays roughly the same resulting in higher price everywhere that has sanctions against Russia.

Related:

“Big Oil on course for near-record $38bn in share buybacks” Feb 2022

https://www.ft.com/content/2852b800-4a03-4cf6-a47f-65c306a22...

Why does the US media think we are all idiots? More and more people understand that the rich will use any excuse to ratchet up prices. It's called greed.

Prices have been going up for months. The war doesn't help, but let's not pretend it wasn't happening before it started.