Oil swell that ends well !

Nowadays, it's hard to hold more than 5 minutes of conversation without passing a wailing reference to the high gas prices. 74$ a barrel, 3.30$ Regular unleaded at the pump and it seems like only a brash word from Ahmadinejad or another explosion by Nigerian Militants separate us from 100$ a barrel (5.09$/ gallon gas !!).

A lot of people complain that India & China have increased their oil consumption drastically and thus driven up the demand. People fail to realise that USA, which in terms of population is 1/18th of these 2 nations put together, consumes more than 3 times of the total oil consumed by these countries together. Infact the US consumption continues to rise at a healthy rate of 3% per year. While US has traditionally hogged a disproportionate amount of world's natural resources, China and India are only seeking their fair share. I think the problem lies not in Asia, but in freeways outside our houses. There is no better example of the criminal waste of oil than the car crazy city of Los Angeles. 12 laned freeways, bumper to bumper traffic, with 98% of the cars with only 1 person inside them. No wonder, Southern California pays the highest gas prices in the country ! If only people realised that prices could be brought down by reducing demand, and not just by increasing supply, we could do much better at the gas station.

Some blame ExxonMobil, and the oil cartel created by major mergers of the huge company. Raymond Lee, the Exxon CEO's $400 mn retirement package only ended up adding fuel to the fire. Last year Exxon made the highest profit ever by any corporation in the US History. Duh! It's a $370 bn company, even a moderate 9% profit is enough to break the record. Infact companies like GE, Citigroup, Apple, Google all operate with a much higher profit percentage. Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon, unabashedly claimed that his first priorty is to create value for investors, not to reduce gas prices. Welcome to the Capitalist Economy. Rather than blaming the huge corporations, people should introspect and think about the politicians they elect. People voted for Republicans, and they got what they asked for - a corporation friendly government.

I think rather than blaming all the external factors, we should start changing our habits and do our bit to curb oil consumption. Some of the habits that I have cultivated over the last 2 weeks, 1) Drive at 65 mph, instead of cruising above 70 mph - this will save atleast 2-3% gas consumption. 2) Curb your instincts on the freeway ramps. 0-60 mph in 7 s might be more fun than 0-60 mph in 9 s, but it also consumes more gas. Is 2 s worth it ? A simple calculation yeils that if I increase my mileage from 22 mph to 23 mph and drive the average 15,000 miles at $3 a gallon, I could save almost 100$ a year !!