UPDATE: 2/16/12 - There's more news from
USA Today that the Obama administration is looking at summer gas prices to be higher than normal this year.
ThinkProgress.org quotes
Businessweek's report that new data indicates that the current price increases are not due to increases in domestic demand.
"Petrol demand is as low as it’s been since April 1997,” says Tom Kloza,
chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. “People are
properly puzzled by the fact that we’re using less gas than we have in
years, yet we’re paying more.
Kloza believes much of the increase is due to speculative money that’s
flowed into gasoline futures contracts since the beginning of the year,
mostly from hedge funds and large money managers."
Documents released in September 2011 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) lead to the conclusion that the high 2008 gas prices were the result of "rampant speculation" by "...noncommercial players, meaning they are companies that simply and buy
and sell crude contracts with no interest in actually refining and
selling the product."
Do it looks like speculators are back to making bets on the gasoline market and you and I are paying increased prices without getting any more gas delivered to the pumps.
UPDATE: 2/11/12 - News from
AmericaBlog with a link to a
CNBC article today that gas prices may peak at over $5.00 this year. The CNBC story starts:
Get ready to pay $5 a gallon for gasoline this year.
John Hofmeister, founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy and the former CEO of Shell Oil’s U.S. operations, warned that there is a “better than 50 percent chance” the price of gas will spike on continued heavy demand in emerging markets and weak public policy at home.
AmericaBlog then adds a note about the sighting of $4.99 gas at a service station in Washington, D.C. near the Watergate. Maybe the station is just getting an early start on higher profits with all the CPAC members in town.
Pundits and TV commentators can argue the need for more domestic oil production and acquisition of more oil from Canada. But the problem is also developing countries driving up the overall price of crude to support their own growing consumption of oil and oil-based products. In the meantime, American consumers have been ill-served for decades by car companies who promoted oversized behemoths that mostly obtained less than 20 mpg and gas companies who accepted tax subsidies while increasing their corporate profits with constantly higher gas prices.
If there's not enough gasoline and diesel to go around, the solution is to use less gasoline and diesel. The growing use of hybrids will help if you can afford them. But for most car owners driving around in
cars and trucks that now average 10.8 years old the only solution is to plan
now to use less gas.
The remainder of this article began several years ago during one of the earlier spikes in gas prices. It"s time to brush up on your technique. Getting more miles per gallon is really a simple process that can be learned by any driver. All of us can make sure even our old cars are well maintained, leave earlier for our destination and slow down just a little bit to make that $4.00 or higher gasoline or diesel go just a little further. Oh yes, and check the air pressure in your tires once each week.
The rest of the earlier article on getting the most mileage from every gasoline dollar starts after the jump...
Keith Veronese, "What is the most scientific way to optimize your driving time?" io9.com, 12/9/11. Online at: http://io9.com/5866122/what-is-the-most-scientific-way-to-optimize-your-driving-time