We did not set the price we paid on the open market to buy that crude - we paid market price. The market price was heavily influenced by the traders on Wall Street - who didn't own refineries that had to be kept full of crude.
From the time the tanker of oil left a port in West Africa, ownership could change hands dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Sometimes a single company would own the same crude several times before it ended up in the hands of the refiner.
If you want to look for a villain, look to Wall Street, or to China and India, who's demand for oil has skyrocketed over the past decade.
China is building a pipeline across the who of Kazakhstan in order to get their hands on the oil that is and will be produced from the Caspian Sea.
Simple rule of economics: If you want the price of oil to fall, produce more of it (i.e., make supply greater than demand). If American is serious about the price of oil, they would begin drilling in ANWAR. Why is it okay to drill off the coast of California, but not off the coast of Florida?
“Why is it okay to drill off the coast of California, but not off the coast of Florida?”
That’s OK. The Chinese will be drilling off Florida in Cuba’s waters. We’ll be buying it from them.
It’s perfectly ok to drill off the coast of Florida (if you are far enough out). In fact the Chinese and Cubans are doing it right now.