Will the gasoline prices ever go down, or will they continue to rise higher?

Question

With criminals finding ways to steal gasoline, will there be a relief of gas prices in the near future?

Answer 1

It is unlikely they will go down to levels they were a few years ago, and it's probable that they will continue to rise higher.

Gasoline prices are determined by supply and demand.

On the supply side, there is a limited supply of oil and oil reserves are not being found as quickly. This results in higher prices. On another level, political actions also effect supply. The large majority of oil companies are nationalized in countries that have special interests in them. This leads to ineffiecient management and production, which again leads to higher oil prices.

On the demand side, demand for oil is as high as ever. With China's and India's economies growing at an annual rate of 11.4% and 9.6%, respectively, demand is only going to increase from here.

As for a relief of gas prices, this is a political question. Gas prices in the developed world are heavily taxed, and governments do have the power to reduce those taxs, and hence, may reduce the total price of gas. This however, would only further increase demand, increasing the problem and reduce government revenue, which would either mean higher taxes elsewhere, or spending cuts.

Answer 2

The gasoline prices will only continue to rise higher and higher as time goes by. I don't  think demand and supply forces play any role here because we have not seen any shortage of gasoline anywhere in the world. The hard true is, unless we abolish the so called future commodities or oil futures, we'll never be able to put oil prices down. The amount of speculation going on right now is unbelievable. Mutual funds, hedge funds, e.t.c(not energy related) buying oil futures is unacceptable and above all regulations must be restored to avoid speculations. Demand for oil in China and India not a big factor.

On the other hand, Oil cartel sees this as the last oil boom and there is no way they can flood the the market with crude oil as green energy initiatives are gaining strength worldwide. Sooner or later the the world economy will crumble in front of our eyes and nothing we can do about it. Remember the higher the gas prices the higher the tax revenues government collects. So. it's a loose loose situation for the final consumers.

Answer 3

As the value of the dollar keeps going down gas will go up .

Answer 4

Let me put it to you like this...  

Buy a Motorcycle or Moped now while they are still cheap.

Answer 5

not likely, with the worlds supply diminishing quickly, and the demand going up, it can only go up in price.  That is why we need to start looking at alternative energy sources a lot more than we do.

Answer 6

Good points, mdtax.

But you forgot to mention the role of entities such as Opec, etc. which use their market power to reap monopolistic profits.

Answer 7

Near future? no, not unless there's an increase in production which was denied last week, it'd need a big u-turn.

There won't be a drop before the election at the very least.

If, as some have speculated, there is war with Iran, they'll shoot through the roof

Answer 8

don't get used to the current prices, it will be much higher by the end of the year, hopefully $6/gal.