Gas Price Increases Over the Last 2 Years

Gas prices are the result of different factors such as processing and distribution costs, crude oil prices, the strength local currencies, local demand, as well as the availability of the local sources for gasoline supply. Fuel is a worldwide trade and as such trade prices are the same while the price paid by the consumer is a reflection of national pricing policies. There are places such as Europe and Japan that impose high taxes on gas prices while there are those that subsidize the costs as seen in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Did you know that Western countries have the some of the highest oil consumption per person? The largest consumer is the United States which consumes and average of 386 million US gallons or 1.46 gigalitres of gasoline, each day!

Factors that contribute to the fluctuation of gas prices include increasing worldwide demand for petroleum as well as the weather that directly affects the available supplies of gasoline. Good examples of this are the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which decreased the supply of refined oil in the US back in 2005. Seasonal demand can also affect gasoline prices. Like in the past, many families in the United States chose to take long vacation drives during the summertime and because of the high demand gas prices increased 5% in those months alone. Countries who are members of the OPEC also have control over gasoline pricing. Members have control of over 40% of crude oil productions all over the world. They also have two-thirds of the world’s crude oil reserves. OPEC member’s sets levels of production for each of its member countries to make sure that oil prices are at a target level. However, many peak oil analysts have doubts about the OPEC’s capabilities to have the spare production capacity to cause significant changes in petroleum prices. Just in June of this year (2008) an OP-ED article which responds to the US Congressional hearings regarding the practice of oil speculators, Jon Birger, wrote that the oil speculators are not the ones who are raising oil prices, instead he blamed it on the Congress.

But despite the increasing high demand for petroleum in the USA, despite the continuous increases in worldwide oil prices, Gasoline prices in the USA remain significantly low in comparison to other Western countries. In June of this year (2008) the price of gasoline in the United States was US$1.07 per litre. In a report by Cambridge Energy Research, they reported that 2007 was the peak year of gasoline usage in the United States and that an “enduring shift” in energy consumption practices was caused by record energy prices during that year. Also included in the report was the fact that in April (of the same year) gas consumption was lower than the year before and this suggested that 2008 would become the first year that gasoline usage in the US declined. The first time in 17 years but then again, total miles driven by people in the US declined back in 2006. So it isn’t exactly an unforeseen event.

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David Jackson is an Internet Marketer and a driver concerned with the current rising gas prices around the World. So with all the essential information and powerful tools needed to help you lower your gas bill in running your car at the maximum fuel economy , can be found at Hydrogen Fuel Cells
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