Wow.
Part of this is the activity of speculators, trying to forecast summer consumption. And another part is just people fleeing a weak dollar and trying to put their wealth into a more stable, appreciating asset.
But the most obvious part is the fact that the
dollar has fallen in value. So even if consumption and production were constant, we'd still be paying more $$ per barrel. Why? Because Bush's mismanagement of the economy means that the dollar is simply worth less. So it takes more dollars to buy the same barrel of oil.
Don't blame OPEC -- blame Bush, the bad economy, the two wars we're fighting, and borrowing billions from the Chinese.