Yes, I know, another thread on gas prices.

But does anyone know why they are so high? It seems like consumers have stopped asking this question and simply bend over for the oil companies who are making record profits.

Please...tell me your thoughts.

A supplemental story to fuel the fire.

One word. Greed.

Oil companies are charging so much for gas/fuel/petrol because they can. They have it, you want it, so they're charging as much as they can. I can't really blame them, either.

Oil prices are high for several reasons, with one of the biggest being the weak USD. Oil is traded in USD, and with the dollar down, it's more expensive for you guys.

In addition, more of the world wants oil, and there's only so much that can be extracted right now. India and China have booming economies (this is a big contributor to the minex boom - yay for me because it means lots of work) and they want oil, too. Demand up = price up.

While there is lots of oil beneath the surface of Earth, extracting it can be a challenge. Look at the Oil Sands in Alberta, for example, or shale-hosted oil. My favourite that I'd like to see developed/attempted is the Grosmont Fm, but that'll be a toughie, IMO. Still, it's not like anyone can just drill a hole under their house and get oil. The old resevoirs were often overpumped, and new reservoirs often need new recovery techniques such as SAG-D. It's getting more expensive to get oil out of the ground, and that's bumping up the price.

Those, in my opinion, are the biggest reasons gas is so expensive for you guys.

edit I'm not bending over to take it from the oil companies! I walk to work, walk to get groceries, walk to go out on the town... Gas here is $4.9/gallon (if I do the conversion; it's $132.1/L), and I kind of laugh when I hear people (SUV/minivan drivers) b***h and moan about the price of gas as I stroll on by. The people in SmartCars are likely laughing with me.

I wish I could go without driving so much. Unfortunately i live in the country. Too far out for mass transport and walking is out of the question

When lived in Hawaii, especially when lived in Waikiki, I never had to drive. Heck I didn't get m d/l till I was 30 and didn't purchase a car until I moved to Florida in '96.

Everything I needed was within walking distance and Oahu has an excellent bus system - the fact that it is an island makes a bus route a lot easier to manage I suppose.

One more thing, posting this by phone is not fun @%*¥&$#}

More people...less pie.

Our gas prices are so high because the oil companies know we'll pay, and because the government likes to get it's fingers in on the tax money.

I just looked around on the internet, and those b*****ds in Toronto and Snottawa are paying less than the Hurtin' Albertans. WTF?? It's produced in Alberta, why isn't it cheaper there? I need to investigate this. If it's because the federal tax there is less than here (which wouldn't surprise me one bit), I'll be some mad.

What tm said, and more directly, jlossdh.

Plus, refineries are currently switching over to their summer blends, which always raise prices in the spring.

Analysts are predicting about a 20 cent more increase before things taper off and start to come down. How much it comes down depends on several factors including what the dollar is worth, how much Americans drive this summer, and any possible natural or man made disasters that might come our way.

Amen to all that has been said above. All the technical mumbo jumbo about supply/demand or outside influences just boil down to what dolly said. GREED (notice all caps). Someone, somewhere is making lots of money off of us and laughing all the way to the bank. If I could, I would give up my car to walk or bike to work. I can't. It would be nice to see SOMETHING happen instead of all the talk and rhetoric. Until then, we are pawns in this little game.

Actually I think that it should have been more expensive back then as well. If you think about it, Milk has always been around $3 a gallion I guess, and there is a lot of liquid in a gallon. Now think once a week every car burns about 15 gallons of gas and all that goes into the air. It cant be good, but everyone uses it because oil companies were selling fuel for cheap. If gas was as expensive back then as it is now, we might have already found cleaner energy.

I think people use a bit more than 15 gallons a week..

Most of the price is affected by the commodities market. In that regard, it's all about supply and demand and OPEC controls the supply.

Another percentage of the price is determined by the oil companies.

THEN a rather large percentage is made up of taxes.

In other words: We get screwed from every possible position.

I agree; though with fuel prices as high as they are right now, more people are investing more time, money and energy into finding alternative energy sources.

If gas had always been more expensive, I doubt that SUV's would have become as popular as they are because nobody would be able to afford to drive them.

From my little pro-environment standpoint, I think that high fuel prices are a good thing.

*Go Nuclear!!*

Now, I'm off to colour maps....

I think Hydrogen has better potential. THe only by products are water.

Nuclear has all that radio active waste

/semi-thread jack

I meant nuclear for large-scale power plants, not cars.

Hydrogen would be great, but it's still very far from realization. We have the technology to produce clean energy with nuclear energy (and solar and wind, I know), so I hope to see more of those in the near future.

In addition, more energy-efficient means for producing pure hydrogen need to be developed before hydrogen cars would work. As it stands right now, it would take more energy to produce the hydrogen than would be saved by using it as a fuel.

Nuclear powered cars would be f*cking COOL.

Especially in road accidents.

I would hate to install a mini nuclear engine in a used Ford Pinto!

After spending a solid hour walking behind/beside my dog and my fiance, I decided that fart-powered vehicles are the way to go. (these two would have the best milage, I assure you!)

Could you imagine? "Please pass the broccoli, cabbage and beans; I have to drive across the province tomorrow!"

Fart-Mobiles: The not-so-clean vehicle of Tomorrow!

Not to mention no one would tailgate you.

I came up with this idea when I was like 11 years old, except for airplanes. The seats would have vent lines in them to shunt the gases to the engine, and the only thing to eat would be beans. Seriously, I thought about this for like hours and hours.