The price of gasoline is going up. On parts of the west coast, consumers are already paying nearly $2 a gallon. Several stories covering this have reported that consumers are blaming the rise in prices on the impending war with Iraq. In fact, the real reason for this spike is the labor strikes in Venezuela. The federal government has responded by cutting off the strategic reserve (i.e., we’re not putting aside any more “rainy day” oil). And the U.S oil companies, frantic not to reduce the amount of gasoline produced by their refineries, have turned to another source for additional oil imports. Their solution: double the amount of oil purchased from one of our middle east oil partners, from .5m barrels a day last November to a current average of 1m barrels a day.
And who is the mid-east benefactor of this windfall? It’s been in the news lately: a California-sized nation called Iraq.
The Observer has the story. This should especially be read by anyone who isn’t already convinced that this war is all about who controls the oil.