If someone is charging $6.00 a gallon for gas, that is price gouging (depending, of course, on where you are--but in the CONUS, price gouging.)
But considering that few remember the industry in anything but the starving coyote look, it is no wonder that you think it fat when the ribs no longer show.
I remember 30 cent per gallon gasoline, but I made a whopping 16 bucks a day before taxes, too. Quarters were silver then, as well. A really nice new car could be had for a mere $2000.00.
Prices have gone up. Wages have gone up, housing has really gone up (where are the price gouging people there?).
Welcome to the world of long term inflation. Oil proces are just catching up.
I heard a commodities broker say that oil can't go above $75/barrel, because at that point it becomes economically feasible to turn coal into oil. If he's right, oil could spike to $100, but it couldn't be sustained at that level.