So, normally, when people ask the question "Why is oil so high, why are gas prices steadily rising" around me, I give them the answer "Because China is becoming far more of an industrialized nation, plus cars are being driven by many more people over there, and since they are the largest population in the world, that simple fact alone has the ability to massively influence gas prices. Not to mention other countries that are starting to see car's being driven by regular people much more then in the past. That plus the fact that there is really a finite amount of natural gas and we are approaching the halfway mark of total consumption of that finite source leads to gas and oil prices skyrocketing.

However, even I'm starting to wonder if that is really the MAIN reasons for why they are rising so quick lately. In the last 2-3 months, gas prices have gone from 3.30 a gallon(roughly), to 3.95 a gallon. That's insanity. Are there other reasons why prices are going up so quickly? Is there another massive speculation bubble that's occuring?(that would be nice, since eventually it would have to burst like the last one). I'm really curious, especially wondering if there is any chance of relief in the near/semi-near future. Starting to get to the point where every single trip has to be planned so everything that needs to be bought/done in a given month can all occur at once(which often leaves me(and probably others who do that) exhausted since you're out for 6-10 hours doing stuff.

Don't move to Europe.

Our's just hit $4.13 this week and will probably be $4.19 next week. There's some people to blame for this but is too political for the forums.

Well there are wars going on in many oil producing countries, there is terrorism as well.

Basically yes, more and more people are using oil, and there is less and less of it. As well we are having to use the more expensive forms of oil, such as bitumen found in tar sands. There forms of oil are much more expensive to produce, about 30 dollars per barrel as opposed to Saudi Oil which is liek a dollar or 4. All thes factors are contributing, plus then there is greed on Oil Companies fault.

combination of both supply/demand and also speculation. dont forget that OPEC sets oil prices and adjusts them to suit their needs. these is why we need to get off our addiction to oil and get antimatter reactors into every household in america.

Lol, yeah I realize it's even worse over in Europe and in other countries, with the price being upwards of 8 dollars or so a gallon(well, equivalent to 8 in U.S. dollars), and possibly even higher. It's insane that they are so high, and just wondering why beyond the reasons I listed. Pretty soon it's going to get to the point where it'll make more sense for people to not even go to work, and just live off of unemployment, and/or grow their own food, raise their own Cows/pigs/what not, because you'll pay more for gas then you make in a week of work.

Edit: Oh, also, I would like to see a good discussion of this, so please, if there are any things you believe that are political in nature causing this, do not describe them. Feel free to say "Political reasons" but no more, don't want this thread to get locked ^^

On the plus side, once oil becomes totally unrealistic as a means of supplying energy to the world you'll have an entire industry of talented chemists all utterly devoted to finding decent alternatives.

Simply put, the people who control the oil control how much crude they produce and ship, and for what price. Add population, war, stock market and a bunch of other things and you get the simple version.

Most of your oil does not even come from OPEC, that is really not the reason at all as to why Oild Prices are so.

And that said, can any European members verify a rise in gas prices?
Or is this just a US occurrence?

Petrol prices here in the UK have been rising here for so long that I wouldn't have noticed a significant leap even if there had been one. But yeah, they're going up.

Prepare for it get worse in the future. I have heard rumor of $100 barrels in the years to come.

I don't understand why Alaska isn't being pumped. I also don't understand why the US doesn't buy from Canada. Canada has the highest amount of oil reserves in the world.

While the thread has behaved so far it's gotten into politically volatile territory. I'm willing to leave this open and see how it goes but people have to be squeaky clean on this topic and stay away from the more volatile and political aspects of the topic. If it heads back in that direction the thread will be locked and warnings will be considered.

About 8 months or so a good price for a litre of petrol was about ￡1.14. Today, I'd consider ￡1.37 a good price.

So yeah, it's not just the US.

A friend of mine drives a taxi cab, and says tthe economy and high petrol prices (making is fare rise) are making people not want to use his services as much. He says it will go up a lot this summer (kind of obvious though, but he has to keep track of these things)

Simply put, we are waiting for everyone else to run out

Eek, it's not quite that bad up here. (Or is it across here?).

Remember the protests and blockades when it hit 80p?

And the food rationing and eerie silent roads...

That really isn't the reason. From what I've seen at least.

$3.95 I would love that price.... I have to pay $4.15 and thats at arco AM PM....

I think it it because oil is starting to run out, and no one is going to tell us.... CONSPIRACY!!!!!!! :bonk:

Can you expand on that?

Price as of two days ago was $4.21

I'm just saying, we have a ton of oil and we're not waiting for everyone else to just "run out". There are more reasons to it.

OPEC says that there is ample supply of oil, and blame the speculators. The speculators...and corporate purchasers for that mater, are spooked by continuing wars and destabilization in the ME. Note that it is not in OPEC interest to allow the price of oil to get too high, because, if it does, countries like the US will find that it is now profitable to start drilling in some of the formerly non-economic viable areas.

Also note that we in the US import more oil from the Canadians and Mexicans then from anywhere else in the world.

Wyatt, we would run out of oil before the Saudi's or the Russians even get close. So.... I'm not quite sure what you are trying to get at with that.

There are plenty more reasons, including political and environmental.

Edit: yes if we started now we would run out fairly quickly, that's partially why we are not using our oil. Oil is way more than just gas, it's just that gas is what affects us the most.

it's already 100 a barrel, isn't it? I mean, I know it's hit that number in recent weeks, at one point it was at $111 a barrel, though it quickly dropped back down to 104 a day or two after. Personally, I'm anticipating 150 a barrel.

Also, I heard a while back that Obama was going to open up our Strategic Fuel reserves and flood the U.S. market a bit in an effort to lower prices some. Whatever happened with that?