Source: Energy Information Administration There are many components that go into the price at the pump for a gallon of gasoline. The biggest is the price per barrel of oil. And, as the price of oil has increased, that component has become a larger and larger percentage of gasoline’s total cost. For example, the average [...]

Congress Must Face the Law of Supply and Demand. Oil, gasoline, fuel oil, and heating oil and diesel fuel commodities traded in the world market and, therefore, their prices reflect the fundamentals economic principals of supply and demand. While much has been done to reduce demand for energy (CAFE, energy efficiency requirements in buildings, etc.) [...]

  There are many components that go into the price at the pump for a gallon of gasoline, but the biggest component is the price of a barrel of oil. For example, the average price of crude oil in 2007 was $72.34 per barrel.  By March of 2008, the price of crude oil reached $105 [...]

In the face of record crude oil and gasoline prices, many have called for suspending additions to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). They argue that filling the SPR takes needed crude oil off the market and thus, suspending SPR fills will lower the price of oil and gasoline. Some have even quantified this savings in [...]

by Robert P. Murphy The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated the use of corn-based ethanol in motor fuels. The recently enacted Energy Independence and Security Act accelerated this mandate to 9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2008 and 36 billion gallons in 2022. Recent spikes in food [...]

The answer is not the United States, as one might think. Consumption of liquid fuels (both petroleum and bio) is forecast to increase by more than 40 percent from 2004 to 2030. Leading the increase will be Asian countries such as China and India, which are not members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and [...]

Memorandum DATE: April 13, 2008 TO: Interested Parties. FROM: William Koetzle, Ph.D. Senior Vice President of Public Policy RE: House Committee on Energy and Commerce, majority staff paper on: Climate Change Legislation Design, Appropriate Roles for Different Levels of Government. —————————————————————————————————————- The most recent Climate Change Design White Paper aims to: “[Sort] out the appropriate [...]

by Robert L. Bradley, Jr. Economists inside and outside of the Austrian-school tradition have formulated a subjectivist theory of mineral resources. While von Mises (1940) presented a rudimentary theory, institutionalist Zimmermann (1933 and after) provided an in-depth mind-centered approach distinct from the objective, neoclassical theory for minerals developed by Jevons (1865, 1866), Gray (1913), and [...]

by Roger Donway, Thomas Tanton and Robert L. Bradley, Jr. The energy challenge over the next several decades and beyond is to meet ever-growing demand with affordable, reliable supply, while ensuring environmental protection and quality. Recent years have witnessed historically high energy prices, a consequence of which has been a slate of new investments in [...]

by James M. Griffin Congress is considering legislation that would punish “price gouging” on gasoline and diesel fuels during periods of national emergencies such as hurricanes Katrina and Rita. On the face of it, protecting consumers by assuring low prices and preventing gasoline producers/marketers from earning large windfall profits at the expense of the innocent [...]