Oil Price Rise Fails to Open Tap

As oil prices soared to record levels in recent years, basic economics suggested that consumption would fall and supplies would rise as producers drilled for more oil.

But as prices flirt with $120 a barrel, many energy experts are becoming worried that neither seems to be happening. Higher prices have done little to suppress global demand or attract new production, and the resulting mismatch has sent oil prices ever higher.
That has translated into more pain at the pump, with gasoline setting a fresh record of $3.60 a gallon nationwide on Monday. Experts expect prices above $4 a gallon this summer, and one analyst recently predicted that gasoline could reach $7 in the next four years.
A central reason that oil supplies are not rising much is that major producers outside the OPEC cartel, like Russia, Mexico and Norway, are showing troubling signs of sluggishness. Unlike OPEC, whose explicit goal is to regulate the supply of oil to keep prices up, these countries are the free traders of the oil market, with every incentive to produce flat-out at a time of high prices.


The rest of this article can be seen on the NY TIMES website http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/business/worldbusiness/29oil.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin


When I went to go and fill up my gas today, the price was 3.63 and it almost made me wonder why I'm not riding a bike to school. Unfortunately, if I rode my bike, it would take me almost 2 hrs to ride from Avenel to New Brunswick. $40 gave me 11 gallons of gas that normally would fill up my car which is a Caddilac Deville. It just gave me a little bit more then a half a tank. The way my engine is that will be gone in within the next 3 days, 4 if I'm lucky. The question I have is what can we do to stop this oil crisis? With the Iraq War still going on, gas prices will continue to sky rocket and leave us in debt. As a student my only concern is filling up gas and getting to school. As for our parents supporting us, they have to worry about the house, food, electric, and work fulltime. Gas is a neccessity but at what cost? How long will we continue to suffer from this? If or when it does succeed $4 a gallon, I might be forced to ride my bike again.....



(This is Tom Byrne) known to many by TooTaLL