Is it not unconscionable that so many people are struggly with gas prices which are also driving up other costs such as food, when the oil companies are reaping record profits and we as a country are sending billions of dollars to Iraq for war reparations while they are reaping 10 times more in billions from oil revenue. Something just doesn't add up here. Maybe gas is more expensive in other places, but I really don't see the relavence to us in America. I wish someone would pull their finger out and either solve the oil problem or develop some new form of energy. We just should not be held captive because of our desire for oil/gas.

Well one problem we have is the length we commute. I drive 80 miles each way. You could say I should move closer but would I be any better selling every few years (I have been transferred around the state 5 times in the last 20 years) and my wife works 20 miles in the other direction. There is no mass transit available. I have a friend in the UK in the same field and the difference is he takes the train to work.

On the accuracy of the pumps, maybe those old ones with the glass tank on top of the pump were the best. As long as they were accurate you saw what you were getting in advance.

Because u touch urself at night haha no but seriously gas prices are high for a multitude of reasons the big one that few are aware of is because the dollar is doing poolry against other currencies therefore we have to spend more to get the same amount of gas. Another is the rise of China as a gas consuming nation through industry and their 1.3 billion people. Finally OPEC has not increased the amount they supply for a number of years even though the quanity demanded is greater.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5750861.html

May 3, 2008, 4:01PM
Plateau
Non-OPEC production of crude oil seems to have stalled, promising even higher prices at the pump.

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The theory of peak oil holds that at some point — a year from now, a decade — global production of crude will peak, possibly plateau and then inexorably decline. On the eve of the Offshore Technology Conference here, the latest production figures for non-OPEC sources, 60 percent of global supply, indicate output has stalled at about 50 million barrels a day.

The flat production is particularly worrisome, because it comes at a time of record-high prices that ordinarily would stimulate production growth. As that has not occurred, the world's capacity to produce oil from conventional sources might have been reached.

The obstacles to increased production are many: Drilling costs have climbed. Trained workers are scarce. Production from older fields in the North Sea and Alaska is at 40 percent to 60 percent below their peaks. Most of the world's oil reserves are controlled by national oil companies and are out of the multinationals' reach.

Mexico's national oil company, Pemex, is incapable of developing new fields, but most Mexicans oppose any foreign investment in Mexico's energy sector. In Venezuela, President Chavez has made a hash of his country's oil industry, nationalizing some assets and mismanaging others.

The challenge for the multinationals can be seen in Exxon Mobil's latest production figures. Despite the incentive of oil selling for more than $100 a barrel, the company's production of crude fell sharply, sparking a tumble in its stock price. If the world's largest private oil company can't maintain, much less expand, its production in a climate of growing demand and high prices, the world is almost certainly courting a production shortfall in the arena that has been a consistent source of growth.

The U.S. Congress contributes mightily to declining domestic production, barring drilling off the East and West coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and inside the vast Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. On Tuesday, when the price of gasoline hit another record, President Bush reiterated his call for expanded drilling in U.S. territory, starting with ANWR. Congress gave no evidence it was listening, debating instead the possibility of a windfall profits tax that would further discourage production and add upward pressure to prices at the pump.

Part of the rise in the price of crude is the product of speculators leery of securities and other noncommodity investments. Given U.S. energy policy's lack of utility or thought, the expectation of higher and higher oil prices looks like a good bet.

Peak Oil is not a household term yet.

I've posted many times about the topic in the past.

An excellent article on the current oil markets pertaining to Peak Oil.

http://beearly.com/pdfFiles/Sprott042008.pdf