We could have been totally, 100%, energy self-sufficient by now had not those groups blocked drilling in ANWR, off-shore, on-shore drilling, and blocked clean coal and oil shale development as well as the construction of oil refineries--for 30+ years!

What a load of crap. ANWR has, at most, enough oil to supply the United States for a whopping 2 years and 2.3 months. That's it. After that, it's back to begging the Saudis for oil, and the Chinese for money to buy it with. Our remaining on-shore resources are largely depleted, and our off-shore reserves would be expensive and risky to develop and rapidly depleted by our voracious consumption.

If anything the environmentalists have done America a huge service by keeping that oil in the ground and off the global market - it's only going to be more valuable in the future. But then I wouldn't expect righwing boobs to understand the first thing about saving for the future - just look at the incredible budget deficits they run up whenever they're put in charge of the government.

Clean coal is science fiction. We're more likely to see cold fusion than we are practical "clean" coal. Maybe if the thermal depolymerization guys work out their tech "clean" coal might become a reality, although with thermal depolymerization garbage, sewage and agricultural waste would probably all be more desirable inputs - they don't require costly mining.

Oil shale development hasn't been significantly blocked by environmentalists, simple economics kept it from ever being pursued. When the price of oil fell to around $20 a barrel after the 1st Gulf War ended, there was simply no way oil shale could be considered a cost-effective investment. Now that the price is several multiples of that there's intense renewed interest in oil shale (tar sands, too), but it's going to take years to refine the technology, a tremendous investment in equipment and an incredible amount of energy to squeeze all of that oil out of stone. Ultimately a lot of it probably won't prove worth recovering, no matter how costly oil becomes - better to use that energy directly in electric cars or, better yet, trains.

Anybody with half a freaking brain in their skull knew the oil was gonna start to run out someday, and that we as a society needed to be planning for it and making other arrangements. Only the free market imbeciles on the right - who systematically blocked such planning and impeded any attempt to make the necessary arrangements - seem to be surprised by this development. I guess that's to be expected when your worldview is utterly divorced from reality. You children need to sit down, shut up and let the adults drive.

Or you can get out and walk. Your fat asses could use the exercise, anyhow.

carob, I'm not sure what the taxes are exactly in the UK. Where are you getting the .639p a liter figure from? It's possible that's the retail tax on gasoline itself, but there could be additional taxes levied on the oil prior to being refined, and on the refined product itself before it's shipped off to the retailers.

Now suddenly, out of nowhere, NOWHERE, is this breathtaking spike.

No, not "out of NOWHERE". Like I said, anybody with two neurons to rub together knew this day was coming 30 years ago. "Breathtaking" price spikes happen when demand starts to approach or even exceed supply present in the market at a given point in time. Price increases under such situations will never occur in a gradual, orderly manner. Those situations attract speculators and encourage hoarding behaviors on the part of oil consumers and oil producers. When there's a glut of supply there's no point to behaving in such a fashion, but as supplies grow tight such behaviors can prove very profitable.

Likewise, if supply should start to exceed demand once again, even by a small amount, look for major drops in the price of oil and gasoline as speculators look to unload their positions and hoarders stop (at least temporarily) hoarding.

We've seen the same sort of behaviors this year in regards to the price of certain agricultural products, like rice.

One factor which should be mentioned is Bush's failure to persuade Saudi Arabia to pump more gas.

This presumes Saudi Arabia can boost its oil output above current levels. There's absolutely no indication they're capable of doing so. Beyond that, there's little cost incentive for them to spend more money and more energy on more equipment to pump oil faster today, when it's fairly certain the price will be higher in the future. What the Saudis are doing just makes good business sense.

It's pretty clear the price of oil is now out of OPEC's control. They can set whatever price targets they want, but with supplies tight and major producers unable to substantially boost their output (indeed, most major producers appear to be in decline, even within OPEC) in the face of rising global demand, the market is now setting the price.

I expect to see some demand destruction over the coming year, as poorer economies across the globe are essentially priced out of the oil market. We're already seeing some here in America, as poor consumers are priced out and as the recession suppresses business activity and oil consumption. Look for more failures of businesses closely tied to the oil industry in the coming year, like airlines. My guess is two or three major airlines will go under in the next 12-24 months.