Gasoline now $3.45 in most places here

"Here" being Reidsville, North Carolina and the surrounding area.

It will likely hit $4 per gallon or thereabouts by the end of the week. And this month might end with it averaging $5 a gallon, depending on how the situation in Libya goes.

I haven't said anything about Libya yet on this blog. But for those who are curious: I don't see any good outcome. Kadaffi (or however you spell his name and I've heard there are about a hundred English translations) is a nutcase and a half enforcing his private little fantasy world with lots of guns and missiles and probably chemical weapons... but if he goes down in what can only be called civil war at this point, look for the Muslim Brotherhood-type that we just saw running the show in the Egyptian revolt to take charge.

And then things start to get interesting.

(I would also - not to put too fine a point on it - advise keeping an eye on Saudi Arabia in the near future.)

Two other factors that are ramping-up the price of fuel: the official stance by the executive branch of the United States federal government to disprove of increased deep-water drilling. And, something that I've talked about a few times already on this blog: that this country needs more oil refineries. That is more a bottleneck than most people realize, but there haven't been any new refineries built in quite some time. Without that, whatever increased petroleum production we might have becomes a moot thing.

I'm due to take a trip early next month. It'll be a long drive. Here's hoping that the pumps between here and yonder won't be seven bucks and change. The way things are going now, I wouldn't doubt it.

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Russia drilling for oil off Florida coast?

"In Russia we drink YOUR milkshake comrade!"

That's the speculation from Investor's Business Daily. In recent days it has come to light that two Russian submarines have been found patrolling off the American coast. And now Russia is signing contracts with Cuba to develop the oil and natural gas fields in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico... which have thus far gone untapped by United States-based industry because of legislation stifling such drilling.

It kinda boggles my mind that distant Russia would be going after petroleum reserves just a few hundred miles away from here. Anyway, it's an intriguing enough read to bring to y'all's attention.

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Four bucks and up for regular gas in Raleigh at this hour

A trusted source in the Raleigh/Durham area here in North Carolina called to let me know that the price of regular gasoline there is now $4.89, with premium at more than five bucks and a lot of stations limiting purchases to ten gallons. It's also been reported that at many stations the cars are lined up to the streets.

Also, I'm now hearing that this now how gas is going for this afternoon in Greensboro (about a half-hour south of where we are) and that some stations have already run out of the precious juice.

(If you're one of this blog's many foreign readers, this is more or less related to Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico, although how much of this is serious distribution shortage and how much of this comes from speculators going nutzoid on the oil markets, is anyone's guess.)

I hope this doesn't turn into another thing like what this blog went through with Katrina three years ago. As I said the other week, I'm still burned-out from that experience...

EDIT 2:04 p.m. EST: WRAL is reporting that the state's price-gouging law is now in effect, and has this photo from a gas station in Zebulon illustrating how jacked-up the prices have become...

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Obama's disastrous fuel tax proposal

Barack Obama is suggesting a $15 billion tax on the profits of oil companies. That would allegedly be used to provide $1000 of tax relief for families and other "assistance".

This is a worse idea than George W. Bush's "stimulus" package... and that's already the most irresponsible and foolish bit of enacted legislation that I've seen in Lord knows how long.

Does Obama believe that his proposal is going to slash the cost of fuel, which is soaring well past the ability of most people to easily afford? If anything it's going to make those costs increase even more dramatically. The oil companies will simply pass along the expense to their customers.

Obama's only motivation in forwarding this idea is that he wants to tap into the seething rage that many people are now feeling toward the oil companies, which are enjoying record profits. It's just a gimmick he's pushing to further his chances at getting elected President. But I wonder how many of the people he's aiming this proposal toward would understand that much of that extra "profit" is only because of this government's reckless financial policies, which have resulted in an over-inflated dollar. I'm inclined to believe that there is very little here that could seriously be attributed to "greed" on the part of the companies, for which they must be "punished".

But if Obama were to see this policy enacted, it would be the consumers and not the oil companies that would suffer.

I've already written here about the diminishing value of the dollar. In addition to shoring-up our currency, a wise energy and economic policy should entail...

1. Dramatically reducing fuel taxes

2. Not just allowing but also actively encouraging domestic petroleum production

3. Building more refineries, especially those that can readily process "sour" (sulfur-rich) crude

4. Offering financial incentives to corporations to actively research new potential sources of petroleum, such as the promising work regarding oil shale and bacterial-produced synthetic crude

5. Recognizing that for the foreseeable future, that ethanol and other so-called "biofuels" are not commercially viable and in fact have a deleterious impact on available food supply

Those are some of the bigger things we could be doing to improve both our economy and our fuel resources. But they require some long-term vision and commitment. Not knee-jerk emotionalism and election year duplicity.

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Potential breakthrough in creation of renewable oil receiving too little attention?

WorldNetDaily has published a story about a new process that, if it's economically viable, would use bacteria to break down organic matter like grass clippings and wood chips and convert it into cheap hydrocarbons: the basis of gasoline and diesel fuel. Which would mean a renewable supply of oil for the first time in human history. The guy who came up with the process has calculated that from 2 billion tons of biomass, 5 billion barrels of oil could be made each year.

Based on what I've read about it, it makes plenty of sense. Consider that this organic material received its energy from the Sun to begin with. Why just let it rot and waste when it could be recycled... and without any deleterious impact on the environment that comes from drilling, as alleged by some. Ecologically and economically, it's a bank shot if it works.

But the proponents of the plan are now claiming that there is a veritable conspiracy at work to prevent news of their discovery from getting out. The national "mainstream" news media is refusing to touch the story... which in the minds of too many Americans means that the story isn't happening at all, even if it were to wind up being amazingly true.

So we might have a way to produce our own oil, and kiss OPEC goodbye... but there may be some who don't want word of this to get out? Not even to the people who may soon be paying $4 a gallon for gas by the end of summer?

Here's that link again. Feel free to read it and judge for yourself.

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