[El_Phil]

No war profitering is what drove the US. Selling arms to any country that had money, whatever their ideology.

Why on earth would the oil firms support each other in the the petrol biz? It is not worth that much effort as the potential rewards are, in the scheme of things, tiny and the punishment if caught immense. Remember Standard Oil?

The higher petrol goes in price, the more attractive other systems become. Hell perhaps some Americans may start walking places.... Only joking.

One simple question: Oil is now more expensive, hence petrol is more expensive. So why the hell shouldn't you pay more for it? No one is making massive extra profits off petrol, it's still:

Cost of oil + refining costs + Misc cost (transport, etc) + thin profit margin = Pump price.

Either the price of petrol goes up or the oil firms start making a loss on every gallon of petrol. It costs more to make, so of course it costs more to buy at the pump. You have nothing at all to complain about, it's like complaining that Strawberries are expensive in November. When things are rare they cost more.