And so 2012 has followed the same energy pricing cycle as early 2011. Pricing for oil and gasoline started climbing in February, infuriating many by late March – when the pundits came in suggesting that gasoline could possibly reach $5 a gallon by summer. And then, miraculously, prices started falling in May right before the summer driving season, when prices are supposed to be rising. What was interesting this year, as last, is that when those driving oil prices were asked what was causing the massive price increases, they pointed to the booming world economy. The usual suspects; China, India, the European recovery, our own GDP’s improvement and so on.
Sure, everyone would mention the upcoming Iranian oil embargo; just as last year it was the civil war in Libya, not to mention the constant mantra that oil supplies worldwide were tightening. Of course, it made for a rivetingly story – but now we know that little of it was true.