I'd say the price has gone down, if you use the value of silver for a comparison.
Or more simply put, the value of a dollar has gone down, not that the price of gasoline has gone up.
Note, too, that the Obama administration has also put stumbling blocks in the way of domestic production on land, and shut down Federal Leases in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and elsewhere, not just offshore and Alaska.
The activity in North Dakota and Montana can be partly credited to this action by the Feds (aside from the Bakken being one heck of a reservoir), because the majority of the land in Eastern Montana (and mineral rights) are held not by the Government, but by private landowners and mineral rights owners (the surface ownership and rights can be separated and sold separately from the mineral rights in the subsurface).
While the Government has been seeking ways to impede that progress, a State Government amicable to oil and gas development has made a difference.
The Feds even went so far as to conduct helicopter and vehicular surveys of producing locations and found 28 birds (on 6,000 producing locations), they then prosecuted seven oil companies for the deaths of these migratory birds, seeking not only $15,000 per bird in 'damages', but jail time for 'responsible parties'.
When asked about bird kills at windfarms, they question was ignored.
They have gone after hydraulic fracturing (fracking), even though the FederalGOvernment was a participant in a study carried out by eight oil companies and the government to see just how far a frac goes in the subsurface. The study involved drilling three horisontal wells, parallel to each other, and monitoring the frac job done on the central of the three wells using pressure and seismic monitoring in the adjacent wells and a host of instrumentation in shallower near-surface wells.
The Feds KNOW there is no threat to groundwater in the region, and yet they persist in pushing the meme.
They even tried via the EPA to file complaints about 'haze', CO2 from flaring gas at producing locations, and just about every other gimmick they have been able to muster, but none have worked.
So now, with the opposition to the Keystone pipeline, their buddies are making money off of railhead trasnportation of oil, (Buffet is savvy, and that has been a going development for years because there was not enough pipeline capacity--Obama just cinched his profits, much as he guaranteed there would be deepwater offshore rigs available for the Brazillian ventures Soros is tied up in).
Keep in mind that higher profits do not necessarily translate to more jingle in the long run. The costs of drilling have increased considerably since we drilled the first Bakken Wells (about 3 million in 2000 to 10 million today, and the leases to drill have increased in price significantly as well).
All of this activity has sorely taxed the available personnel, infrastructure, etc., and while the region is prosperous, the formerly $400.00/month two bedroom apartment now rents for $2000.00 or more. The numbers might seem huge on the 'profit' end, but the investments are far bigger. As a percentage return on investment, for instance, oil companies are knocking back profits of 7-10%. By contrast, beverage bottlers (soft drinks) commonly take in 20% profits, and no one gripes about that.
I'd say the price of computers has dropped and the value of the dollar has gone through the ceiling!
lately ive been trying to piece the puzzle together and it seems that the decades long assault on our own resources has past the tipping point...it seems that everytime we even speak of ramping production, and for many other reasons, the arab oil states can turn up/down the flow and more or less make our production in the CONUS unprofitable/undesirable whenever they desire...
combined with the regulatory, and probably most importantly, the weakening of the currency, and we really seem to be unable to really make 'drill here, drill now' either business or politically appatizing...
it seems that established fields and companies are able to adjust, but the game is over as far as our own resources go...thats not even addressing refining capacity that appears to be declining and increasingly subject to the whims of weather in the gulf...
what can/should be done ???