Gas price is currently $1.40/G, of which about 40-50 cents are federal, state and local taxes. Of the remaining 90 cents to a dollar, half is cost of crude, the rest is refining and transportation. Let's be generous, and say 50 cents is due to crude price. That means an increase from $30/barrel to $40/barrel would raise gas price by about 1/3 of the 50 cents, or 17 cents, to $1.57/gallon. At $40/barrel sustained price, vast tracts of Canadian oil sand would become commercially viable for extraction; there is more oil in Canadian oil sand than all of current Middleast oil reserve combined. This analysis is not even touching on alternative supply from the recently dramaticly increased capacity from former USSR.
Only the combination of avaricious politicians and gullible/sheepish voters in the developed world can produce $4-5 per gallon gasoline, which is the result of outrageous taxation, not crude price.
