Ouch! Nagging pain hits him in the wallet

Source Of course, part of this is our own darn fault, since we insist upon driving gas hogs, and continue to depend upon petroleum for making so many of those plastic products we seem to find indispensable, from kitchen containers to furniture, to car panels, to carpeting ...

Each time I pull into a gas station, I get this nagging pain in my wallet, and I think the same thing: why does gas cost so much, and who is behind these price increases?

It would be easy to blame the current "unfriendlies" in the parts of the world where oil is produced, but picking one isn't as easy as it first looks, because we don't buy from just one or two sources.

And we have to buy so much!

Each day, the US imports, with slight variations, about 8,886,000 barrels. This is an annual total of some 3 billion, 260 million barrels of oil. That's a lot of oil!

As a matter of fact, almost all of that foreign oil comes from only 10 different countries, and some might be a little surprising. For example, the major source is Canada, which accounts for about 21 percent of our petroleum imports.

I guess we don't tend to think of Canada as "foreign" because it's so close, or some other such excuse, but the fact remains: Canada is our biggest single supplier, at almost 2 million barrels per day.

Not far behind, at 16 percent each, are Saudi Arabia and Mexico, with Venezuela coming next at 15.5 percent, sending us just under 1.4 million barrels per day.

Next come a few surprises, some because they don't supply us with as much as we expected, and some because we never considered them as sources at all!

Nigeria, only 6.7 percent, which sounds about right for a smaller country, when you think of it.

Iraq, at 5.9 percent, far less than we had thought, probably because the Near East gets all the publicity (usually bad).

The United Kingdom sells us 461,000 barrels a day (5 percent), and Norway, a little less, adds another 4.5 percent.

Angola and Algeria finish the list, each with about 3 percent, which is probably a lot, considering the size of the countries.

But when you look at the list, you wonder how prices can vary so much and so quickly when there are so many sources.

Surely just one or two suppliers can't affect the pump prices by as much as 25 percent in a couple of months.

Does this mean that all these suppliers are conspiring to jack up the prices? Not likely, as there are too many of them to come to an agreement. The prices fluctuate too rapidly for that.

Then why aren't the pump prices changing in step with crude oil prices?

Well, I guess if you could answer that one, you'd be the Alan Greenspan of the petroleum industry.

There are so many factors to be considered between the oil field and the gas pump that it's just plain confusing, but no matter what the reason, we still believe that gasoline prices are too high.

And there's one more aggravating factor. These aren't the same size as the 55-gallon barrels we are familiar with.

Oil barrels hold only 31.5 gallons, so that doesn't help the price, either.

Of course, part of this is our own darn fault, since we insist upon driving gas hogs, and continue to depend upon petroleum for making so many of those plastic products we seem to find indispensable, from kitchen containers, to trash bags, to paint, to furniture, to car panels, to carpeting, to clothing, and many, many more.

Petroleum plays a part in thousands of everyday products, things we can't seem to get along without.

It's part of the price we pay for choosing our high standard of living.

For the most part, we pay little attention to how many petroleum-derived products we depend upon -- and then we gripe about the high price, because gas is the obviously expensive item.

Can we use less? Sure we can, We just don't want to. Apparently, we'd rather complain, and blame someone else.

And while we're complaining, we're still undeniably part of the problem. We seem to pay too much attention to the immediate concern, and tend to ignore the larger problem -- especially if it's going to inconvenience us.

Maybe we should pay a little more attention to being part of the solution. All we seem to really care about is what's available at the gas pump -- and it always seems to be too expensive. Still, I'm keeping an eye on the future, because as of March 20, the experts are saying that there is now an oil glut; too much oil available, and they also say this should mean lower futures prices on crude oil.

For example, the price of crude has dropped from $37.10 to $29.88 a barrel in just one week. Since pump prices follow crude prices by three to four weeks, we should see cheaper gas in about a month.

I wish I could be more optimistic about this, but past experience has taught me one hard lesson.

When it comes to gasoline prices coming down, I don't hold my breath. And I suggest that you don't hold yours, either.

And, as for the ongoing gasoline price situation, try not to be too optimistic. If you are, you're going to be disappointed, because there are no quick and easy solutions -- not even with hydrogen-powered cars.

So here we are. We learned a little, but we haven't solved a thing. Good thing we've learned to grin and bear it -- and dig a little deeper, when it's our turn at the pump.

Well, there it is, and I respect your right to see it another way. If you don't agree, I only ask that you try not to blame me too much. We're all in the same leaky boat.

But if you still disagree, you may use this column to line the bottom of the bird cage.

And if that's not enough, there will be a ritual burning of my effigy at a date to be announced later. (Which means that it's again your turn not to hold your breath.)

Mike Morton writes each week for the Kansan.