jstrubberg wrote:The government doesn't control gas prices. Other than the tax on gasoline, the price is set by oil companies.
Gas prices have nothing do to with who is in office.
no not the actual price directly, but access to drilling sites, and pipeline construction has a very direct effect. Back when W let the oil co's explore for oil it was enough to drive the price down as it was assumed future production would go up and thus crude would not be a safe return with a profit the way it normally is. This explains why oil and gas prices were so low on the day O was sworn in. O reversed the policy of allowing exploration, then severely cut back on deep water off shore drilling after the BP well fiasco, he then refused the pipeline to Canada, and the EPA is currently trying to kill fracking. Thanks to the canceling of many contracts for oil exploration on govt. land, and new restrictions from the govt. on where exploration is allowed, there is excellent reason to expect future supply will make oil speculation a safe bet.
The only thing offsetting all the bad news for oil production is the nose dive our economy will continue to see thanks to the election, business was holding out hope for a course correction in the white house but now must shed any excess jobs and hold onto any cash possible. we are just starting to see the landslide of unemployment and a bad economy doesn't need more production, as unemployed people don't drive nearly as much, stores won't need quite as much shipped, and less transportation will be needed for the slow down in manufacturing and business.
No need to risk all that money on new wells when they might just end up capped and unneeded. Welcome to the late 70's all over again...
