Im confused about gas prices?

Question

This may sound really dumb but why are gas prices so high now adays? I dont understand how they jump from $2 to almost $4 in about a year? Is there an oil shortage? is it becasue we get oil from other countries? why cant we just produce our own oil here in America, wouldnt it be cheaper? Whats the point of using E85 Ethanol? its almost the same price. When people started using E85 Ethanol (the corn oil) i thought it was used because regular gas is to pricey but E85 isnt any lower? (maybe by like 50cents) but thats still really high? whats going on? somebody help me understand this!

Answer 1

You also have to understand that in the eyes of the rest of the world, the US dollar is not worth as much as it was two years ago.  For example, for the longest time, the US Dollar was worth just a little bit less than the British Pound.  Currently, you can get 2 USD for 1 BP.  So our money is worth half of what it was.  This is basically due to politics and how our economy is doing compared to the world.  So, given that our currency is used to purchase the raw oil used to make gasoline, it costs the oil companies a lot more to buy the same amount of oil.  They in turn have to pass that cost on to the consumer (although probably more than they should with their record profits the last few years).  

You asked why we cant produce our own oil.  Well, oil is not produced, it is found.  Raw oil is a substance that is found in the Earth and we just refine (or clean) it into a substance that we can use.  The US has some oil deposits, but not nearly enough to satisfy our needs for many years.  So we use a little of ours and buy the rest of what we need, so that we can make it last as long as possible.  Plus, oil can only be pumped so fast.

E85 is just a way to make oil go farther.  What it is, is ethanol combine with gas.  All gas has some ethanol in it, but E85 just has a lot more.  They take the corn oil, which is somewhat expensive to make (but currently on par with oil prices so we see it more), and turn that into ethanol and add it to the gasoline.  It burns a little cleaner i think, but it's not as effective as normal gas and you cant drive as far on the same amount.  So you basically end up using the same amount of gas in the long run anyways.  

In regards to the price of E85, the price to make the coil ethanol is relatively high.  It only became a reasonable price, since gas prices are currently as high or higher.  So if gas prices we a lot lower than e85, i doubt we would even hear about it at all.  In case you did not know, some of the very first automobiles ran on ethanol instead of gas.  But, gas was cheaper so we used that instead.  Now that gas is as expensive as ethanol, it is being used more.

Answer 2

ya it is lololololololololooollloooololllolololol...

Answer 3

The price of gas is going up, because all of these experts are saying, based on speculation, that the supply of gas will decrease, though there arent actually any signs of it.

ANother reason is the war, since there is a great amount of war in the middle east, where we get a good portion of our gas, it has become more risky to drill for the oil.

As for corn oil, thatys not going to help much, because than it will cost more to buy produce, because there will be a shortage of that.

Figures, we cant have gas or corn.

lol

Answer 4

because bush, simple as that. In the last term of his presidency gas costs has multiplied and his oil buddy's are getting rich from it and he'll get the praise for the good work because americans are so reliant on the stuff. He said it himself that he has no answer, because he doesn't want gas to be cheaper.