Its no more absurd than the following speculation without supporting data... "I speculate the impact of regulation to be about 50%" (ace)
I'll try one more time:
Source:
A Primer on Gas Prices
Regulations have little impact on distribution/marketing, refinement, taxes, profit....unless you want to deregulate pipelines and refineries with the trade-off of far greater possibilities of environmental degradation for a minimal reduction in those costs.
As Baraka noted, the cost of crude is based on world supply and demand (and is a greater percentage of the cost now than the 53% in 2005). Factors that impact that are surging demands outside of the US along with Saudi Arabia's lowering of its output, Iraq producing at below pre-war levels...
...and probably most important for the cost at the pump in the US, the devaluation of the US dollar as oil trading currency.
Quote:
On Jan. 17, 2007, oil was about $52 per barrel. On Nov. 21, it was at $99.29. According to the Defense Energy Support Center, a group that provides government agencies with energy information, without the devaluation of the dollar over this time period, the price per barrel would have been $86.69 — a 14.5 percent difference over that 11-month period....
...Is it true that worldwide demand drove up the price of oil in all currencies? Yep. But over the same period from 2004 – 2007, oil prices in pounds and Euros doubled while they have tripled in U.S. dollars.
I’ll be fair. There are other factors contributing to rising oil prices. Conflict in the Middle East is one. Crazy South American dictators is another. Increased demand in the Far East is another.
article: Declining dollar hits home
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But what do I know....I "havent given it much thought"