There is no gas shortage...
From what I understand, the weakening US dollar is also at play in this. It takes more weak dollars to buy a barrel of oil. It's certainly mostly due to the speculators. I hope that the bottom falls out on them in time, like it did to the real estate speculators. I was absolutely horrified to pay $3.49 per gallon this morning. It costs triple to fill up my tank as it did when Little Red (a 1997 Cavalier) was new. Fortunately, I live within 5 minutes of work & a tank of gas will last me at least two months because I don't drive my car very much on the week-ends.
Jan