[KiwiHopeful]

Blame it on the weak dollar. Most everyone knows half of the story: that because the dollar is worth less now (not worthless ) than it was before, oil is nominally more expensive.

But the other half of the story is that the same people who are selling us that oil are also sitting on huge reserves of dollars. So, they've seen the purchasing power of their bank accounts drop, drop, drop. They're just doing what you or I would do (if we were evil bastards)--they're making up for their losses by sucking more money out of us right now.