The "oil companies" do not control the price of crude oil,
it is a world market product, sold at auction. Those buyers
may be refiners "big oil" who actually make gasoline and jet
fuel, or more often they are speculators who sell on the
spot market. The price of crude goes up and down with every
pipeline attack, revolution in the Congo, terrorist threat.
Like the estate auction, emotion drives the price.
The price of gasoline depends on the supply and cost of
crude, the available refining capacity, the means of
delivery [truck, pipeline, train, ship/barge], the demand,
the weather report and EPA/DOT rules.

The USA needs to build refineries, drill where ever oil is
located, or go back to walking and riding animals. Nuclear
power for cars is a long way away. What other power source
is there?

There is plenty of oil in the ground, oil is not a finite
material, it is produced by the Earth. The "shortage" is
caused by government rules, {can't drill in ANWAR, can't
drill off-shore, can't drill if the rig can be seen}, that
refinery smells bad [they do, but so does a hog or chicken
farm] so we haven't built a totally new refinery in decades
[some have been modernized or expanded].

Adjusted for inflation, gasoline is cheaper today than it
was fifty years ago.

Inflation is caused by the government, they control the
money supply.



"OtisWinslow" wrote in message
...
|I think they should all be nationalized.
|
|
| A responsible oil company should charge you as much as
you are willing
| to pay.
|
|