Why have oil and gas prices gone up about 20% over the last two months?
(1) fears about disruptions in oil supplies due to political turmoil in the Middle East, (2) continued slide of the dollar in relation to other currencies (and global oil sales are priced in dollars), (3) investors betting that both those conditions will continue and placing bets on higher oil prices on the futures markets - paying more for futures contracts, thus (4) raising distributors expectations on the price they will pay for their next deliveries, which they are passing along now. Just a guess.