Reply #13: Some of the refinery production issues were caused by federal requirements [View All]

[lindisfarne]

Not that I would put it beyond the oil companies to do what would benefit them, but I do believe the majority of the price increases are due to supply and demand.

Prices are going to keep going up as long as supply is just barely meeting demand. This makes the market very jittery. As it's unlikely large new oil fields will be found in the future, and as it's quite certain that the major oil fields are going to be unable to continue producing at the levels they have been, and as demand from the 3rd world is growing quite rapidly, supply will almost certainly not keep up with demand. High prices decrease demand for petroleum-based products (and decrease the relative cost of other forms of energy, which provide alternatives to petroleum-based products, thereby also decreasing the demand for pet. products).

I still stand by my statement that the only way we will see oil prices decrease on average in the future is to come up with alternatives which decrease the demand for oil. These alternatives include biking, walking, public transit, and alternative energy sources.