This article helps explain better than I can the reasons why gas is so expensive, why it's not speculation driving it, and how doing things that will change supplies in the long-term, like drilling now even though we won't get an oil from it for a decade, can lower the current price of oil. It's all about what people think oil will cost in the future. Prices have gone up because China and India are using more now, and will use even more in the future. And Russia and Mexico are expected to run out of oil in the future. Thus higher demand, lower supply.... In the future. So people buy futures contracts to lock in their price for down the road. Those futures rise in demand, so they rise in price. Change the outlook on the future, and the price of futures will sink, and then the current price will follow.