-
May 22, 2008 11:40 am US/Central
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Gas Prices Leave Drivers Frantic, Furious
Oil Cracks $135 Per Barrel, Motorists Beside Themselves
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
As Congress grills oil executives from Shell, BP and ExxonMobil on Capitol Hill, people who are feeling the pain of astronomically expensive gas prices in Chicago are speaking out.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, a survey reported Sunday that gas prices in Chicago are the highest in the nation, and motorists' anger is rising even faster than the prices.
At the Shell station at Congress Parkway and Plymouth Court, a gallon of regular unleaded was going for $4.39 Thursday morning. If people were not thinking about pricing before, they most assuredly are now.
"A hundred and forty-one bucks. I had to fill up the van and a five-gallon gas can. I had to swipe the card twice," said motorist Mike Napier. "I'd say it's getting ridiculous. I'm having to work overtime just to pay for fuel."
Some experts say the cost is only going to increase. Some experts are forecasting that prices could reach $10 to $15 per gallon.
Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading said the price hike may not end up being quite that severe. He thinks the seemingly never-ending spike will top off soon, but that it's a recurring cycle.
He said world demand has a lot to do with it, and so does energy policy and how the U.S. reacts to depleting oil fields.
One driver, Jason Pavalon, said the gas price crisis will ultimately force him to go green, and he'll have to go and change his lifestyle.
When asked whom he blamed for the high gas prices, he said, "The industry. They're driving it; the oil industry."
Flynn said it's not that simple.
"We should be embracing our U.S. oil executives, but make sure they do what they need to do by bringing us more oil. We are more dependent on foreign oil because we haven't been producing enough oil," Flynn said. "We want our cake and eat it too. We want to consume more energy, but we don't want to drill for more energy. We don't want to build more refineries."
Flynn said oil companies need their profits to pay for their investment in future energy, which he said needs to happen so the country does not need to maintain dependence on foreign oil.
Oil prices fluctuated Thursday after setting a new record of $135.09 in overnight trading. A stronger dollar gave some investors reason to sell oil futures to lock in profits from crude's record run. But concerns about falling supplies and rising demand are expected to keep propelling prices higher in the days and weeks to come.
Oil prices rose to $135.09 a barrel in overnight electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before retreating to trade down 51 cents at $132.66 a barrel.
Analysts said oil futures are caught between the supply and demand concerns that boosted crude to its latest record, and a desire by some investors to cash in some profits. The dollar, one of the factors that has fed oil's rally from about $65 a year ago, strengthened against the euro Thursday. When the greenback gains ground, commodities such as oil lose their value as hedges against inflation. Also, a stronger dollar makes oil more expensive to investors overseas.
Analysts viewed oil's decline as temporary. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Paris-based International Energy Agency is trying to comprehensively assess the condition of the world's top 400 oil fields, a review that could lead to a sharp downward revision in its estimates of global oil supplies.
For years, the IEA has predicted that supplies of crude and other liquid fuels will arc gently upward to keep pace with rising demand, topping 116 million barrels a day by 2030, up from around 87 million barrels a day currently.
The agency is now concerned that aging oil fields and diminished investment mean that companies could struggle to surpass 100 million barrels a day in production over the next two decades, the paper reported.
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)