Who's responsible for the up and down gas prices?

Is it OPEC messing with gas supplies or is it just the Gas Companies manipulating gas prices secretely to make even more money? I have a feeling the blame should be directed at the Gas Companies,They are profiteering. What do Y'all think?

It is the gas companies making more profit. Have you noticed how the price of gas goes up very quickly when there is a hike in crude prices but yet takes more time to drop when crude drop.

And the gas at the pump is processed from crude that was typically purchased as a future months ago so cost of the crude in the pump today bears very little to the cost of crude today.

The harsh fact here is that the gas companies are taking advantage of the consumer and we are powerless to do anything about it.

Here's a few links about what is going on right now.

The price of oil last night broke through the $80 a barrel level for the first time on fears of winter supply shortages.

News of a sharp drop in US oil stockpiles coupled with disappointment at the modest production increases announced by the Opec oil cartel sent the cost of US crude to $80.18 a barrel - beating the previous high of $78.77 reached last month. It later settled back to $79.91.
business.guardian.co.uk...

If you go to GasBuddy.com you can see a US map of current gas prices though all States.
www.gasbuddy.com...


How Stuff Works has a pretty good explanation of why we see the fluctuations, and where the money goes. Well worth the read if you want to follow up the topic.
www.howstuffworks.com...