Why fuel prices go sky high..?

Yesterday when I was returning home with my father, all refueling centers were crowded. We guessed that the fuel prices may be going up again since yesterdays midnight so everyone wanted to fill their tanks before the price gets updated.

After reaching home I saw the news saying that the Diesel prices have been raised by 25%.

So I thought this would be a good topic to return to the blogging world...

Crude oil prices has raised as never before in the history...
According to statistics crude oil prices has never reached over 80 dollars in its history. The recent peak has occurred while Iran/Iraq war but it had only reached around 70 dollars.

Does OPEC do its duty..?
According to what I found in my small research, OPEC has not earned much of good comments in controlling oil prices.
As it seems Saudi Arabia has played a major role towards keeping the oil price in a firm level but the support from other OPEC members have been less.

For an example:

• During 1979 to 1980 period where crude oil prices were increased rapidly, Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ahmed Yamani repeatedly warned other members of OPEC that high prices would lead to a reduction in demand. His warnings fell on deaf ears.

• In periods where OPEC could not keep its members from producing oil, Saudi Arabia cut its production to control oil prices.

There are many facts about OPEC's failures I'll just extract an old joke which shows the image that world has about OPEC;
What is the difference between OPEC and the Texas Railroad Commission? OPEC doesn't have any Texas Rangers!

Does the Value of Dollar Affect towards fuel price..?
“The prices are high due to the recession in the United States and the economic crisis, which has touched several countries, a situation that has an effect on the value of the dollar. Each time the dollar falls 1 per cent, the price of the barrel rises by $4 and of course vice versa.”
Comments by Chakib Khelil, Algeria’s energy minister

So what the future of crude oil prices is going to be...
Is it going to settle in near future? or will we have to park our cars in our porches and use public transport..?

This statement of OPEC’s president would answer that question:
"OPEC’s president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help"

Hmm... It seems like the day we would be dreaming to take our own car in to the road is not that far..!

Visit following site for interesting statistics on crude oil production and prices throughout the history
[ http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm ]