Since 2007 US Oil ';Consumption'; has gone ';DOWN'; by about 219 Million barrels. Shouldn't price of gas be lower?

According to an Energy Information Administration (EIA) chart at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/gifs/Fig14.gif





US petroleum consumption has actually gone ';DOWN'; but I keep hearing the laws [theories] of ';supply and demand'; meaning if demand goes up the price goes up, yet the US demand has been going down since 2007 why isn't the price down?





It's still about a dollar higher than 2007 -- the recent 10 cent or 30 cent drops from $4+ is not enough, so don't bother pointing this out to me.





In 2007 the price was about $2.80 (US Average/gallon) instead demand went down and price went up to over $4+ in 2008 and then has only went down a little $3.80 (Sept. 2008).





You can check ALL states gas prices at:


http://www.texasgasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx





The Laws or [theories] of ';supply and demand'; don't seem to be working.





Are government[s] corporation[s] and/or wall street just conning and profiting at the US consumers expense and ignorance?





Don't tell me this is just ';The Free Market'; -- This is NOT a ';natural'; Free Market at work, but a ';Manipulated Market';.





Even if theoretical increases of extra oil from offshore drilling came into existence I doubt it would lower the price since we effectively have about 219 million ';EXTRA'; barrels NOT used by consumers since 2007 and obviously that has NOT lowered the cost of gas to BELOW $2.80 which is not actually that low either if you think about it. Since 2007 US Oil ';Consumption'; has gone ';DOWN'; by about 219 Million barrels. Shouldn't price of gas be lower?
This is probably a political manipulation on the part of the Republican ';Drill Baby Drill'; Party.





How is it that gas prices conveniently dropped during the Republican Party Convention September 1-4, 2008


I checked at the link you provided.


http://www.texasgasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx





And no, Republicans simply saying ';Drill, Drill, Drill, does not create more actual oil, even if you include speculation on wall street in commodities -- generally the product is at least going to be available for use in the near future -- months -- not maybe in 10+ years because Florida offshore exploration or drilling doesn't exist yet.





Did the big oil companies know ahead of time that the Republicans were going to shout ';Drill Baby Drill'; and maybe Big Oil manipulated the price lower just a bit to help their pro-oil Republican pals look like they'd help American Voters?





Don't count on Big Oil or Republican Big Government to help lower gas prices at least not by any drastic amount.


Since 2007 US Oil ';Consumption'; has gone ';DOWN'; by about 219 Million barrels. Shouldn't price of gas be lower?
We are not the only country in the world. Other countries in the developing world are consuming more petroleum every year. And since America buys its oil on the global market, a tightening of global supply means higher prices for us, too.
In the case of oil, the oil companies know that there is a VERY steady need for oil. So they charge what they want. They see that they can make money in an easy way.
It doesn't matter if it did. The demand for oil is rising all over the world.
Because your forgetting, the cost of oil has went from $46.00 a barrel in 2007 to $109 a barrel today.





The oil companies must buy 70% of the oil they refine into gasoline.





While US demand for oil has went down,





Worldwide demand for oil has increased.





Which has driven up the price for oil





And as much as Americans do not want to believe it,





America does not control the worldwide price of oil.
unfortunatley i didnt see where the stats added in the consumption of oil we're using while where in iraq i know the strykers that we were in were using a tank of gas a patrol and that was around 23 gallons i think... now multiply that by 15(usually for each company) and now multiply that by 4 for a battalion(this isnt including all the Headquarter vehicles though, that varies way too much to count!) and then multiply that total by at least 3.. and thats just for the strykers and thats just a rough guesstimate.. now add in the airplanes, the helo's, the humvees and the various generators we us and construction equipment........ were using thousands upon thousands of gallons of fuel a day over there.. so while our consumption back in the states is going down, our nations consumption is actually going through the roof
Sometimes you have to laugh when you hear some of the BS spread around by the Oil Mafia and their right wing stooges. Remember the one about 'refineries'? ';We haven't built a refinery in 30 years because of the 'liberals'.'; Yet, did you ever drive into Joe's gas station and see a 'no gas today' sign? Then there's the one about how the price of fuel is high because of 'taxes'. Lately the blather centers on how if we could only get the 'liberals' to let us drill under the Tomb of the Unknown Solder the price of gas would drop like a rock. Shazam! And people fall for this #$%^ ? Buy a clue, folks. The world is awash with oil, but very few folks control it. In any decent world the government, ('ya know, the people) would buy up all imported oil at a given price, sell it into the domestic market at a given price after taking a cut and then let the market take its course. No more speculation. No more BushWars for Oil. Meanwhile the 'cut' that the government takes would go into building up an infastructure to support 21st century technology so we would use less and less oil. Of course this will never happen...it could, but it won't. I dunno'....I just bought an 80 mpg scooter. In your face Exxon!
It is mostly supply and demand. The demand hasn't gone down the supply has so the cost is up because if you really want it you will pay. If cost goes up less will pay high prices leveling off the decreasing supply. Like with the hurrican that hit Texas, two main pipelines were down so supply dropped. Our state is still on shortage so our prices shot up to 4.99/gal to 5.37/gal. Most people aren't paying that so the supply coming in cost more. Plus the stock market is weak weakening the dollar so oil is gonna keep going back up until the dollar strengthens.