Oil and gas prices are always in flux. With countries like India and China requiring higher volumes of oil to meet increasing demands, oil production has yet to catch up, resulting in higher prices worldwide. With the decline of the American dollar, these changes have had quite an impact.

1. Increasing international demand for oil

2. Decreasing availability of oil

3. Turmoil in the Middle East

4. International and national policy

5. OPEC - the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

In June of 2008, AAA reported that the nationwide average for gas in the United States was $4.086 per gallon. This hike coincided with the cost of a barrel of crude oil rising to $138.54 the same month, up from $100 a barrel just three months prior. By December of the same year, oil prices dropped to $33 a barrel.

The trend has begun again as gas prices have exceeded $4 a gallon in 2011.c

SUV and truck sales have declined significantly. Ford announced that they were reducing vehicle output by 12 percent as of 2008. The increased cost of gasoline increases the cost of transport, which increases the prices of goods being delivered.

The EIA updates their data on oil prices weekly.c As of the first week of June 2011, EIA reported the crude oil futures price as follows:

•  $100.29/bbl -----> down$1.03 from prior week -----> up$27.71 from prior year