We've just seen another record-setting high price in the petrochemical world, and I don’t think I’m entirely out of line when I say it barely qualifies as news. I mean, after a record high in oil prices, the fastest one-day gain in oil prices in history, the biggest one-year increase in oil prices, it’s almost miraculous that gasoline prices are as low as they currently are.

Desperate, perhaps, to save face, Saudi Arabia’s Information and Culture minister has called for a summit between some very happy oil-producing states and their not-as-enthused clientele. The minister claims there’s no reason oil prices are hitting their current peaks, but I can think of a couple good ones off the top of my head.

Meanwhile, stateside consumers are calling for all sorts of ill-informed action, from repealing the 18-cent gas tax to tapping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, though experts are in near-total agreement that the impact of these measures would be negligible. After all, the U.S. is the third largest oil producer in the world, but couldn’t even meet half of its own demand without foreign imports.