War for Oil

Problems arising around gas prices and control for the oil market are increasing every day, and are only leading to more losses for all consumers in today's global gas market. This being an issue we all face most firsthand, we chose to research the changes of the oil market and their implications on the prices of gasoline as we head into the 21st century. Gas prices have skyrocketed over the past 30 years increasing at almost 400% from the 1979 price of $0.80 per gallon to the over $3.00 gallon gas we all pay today in the U.S. , while many European countries have gone through the same problems. Increase in prices can be attributed to the growing oil industry of the world as large companies such as Gazprom, in Russia, and OPEC, in the Middle East, gain more and more control of the world oil market and continue to raise prices per barrel of crude oil. The world on average consumes about 30 billion barrels of oil a year with the U.S. consuming 24% of the market. The United States has always received most of its oil imports supply from the Middle East, while Russia's Gazprom has become the leading exporting company to European countries. The monopolization of these markets has lead to large price increases on gas and has also lead to the increase of price of oil per barrel to rise an incredible 365% just from the early 1990's. As demand continues to rise for gasoline throughout the world market, it is easy to anticipate this trend to continue and gas prices to reach a ridiculous price level. After the gas shortage in early 80's due to the Iraq Iran war, gas prices were moderately stable seeing a little increase over time due to inflation. Prices remained stable till shortly after 9/11, as conflicts in the Middle East arisen and have caused many trade barriers between countries and the prices of gasoline to skyrocket to the price we are forced to pay today. As wars wage on consumers can only anticipate more of the same overpaying of gasoline. The struggle for oil has become a large global problem, as seen in the U.S. decision to enter Iraq largely due to their massive oil supply. As countries continue to fight, over the power both fueled by the oil and the power an oil supply gives a country over another in the world market, in both a physical and legislative way, all consumers are forced to suffer. With these issues in mind, we took the time to look at the implications that may occur in the future if these trends continue