Yes, but they became particularly volatile starting in the late 90s when the Clinton administration started placing all sorts of clean fuel blend mandates via the EPA on gasoline. This constrains supply because of the strain it puts on limited refinery capacity (another environmentalist-created problem leading to high gas prices), particularly in places like California which has its own unique fuel blend that can’t be produced anywhere else. So yes while high oil prices didn’t begin with Obama, he is continuing and enhancing radical environmental policies that only worsen the problem such as his drilling moratorium, etc.
Well then it’s more on Clintonian policies.
Look, I’m not saying Obama is making the situation better, but to tie him and the events in the Gulf of Mexico for barely one year directly to high gas prices that are occuring right now is silly. There are multitudes of factors, most of them outside the US’s control.