Driving on Highway 80 East one morning last week, motorists may have noticed a gas station at the Burkhalter Road intersection charging $3.45.9 per gallon of regular, while across the street the price was $3.57.9.By the afternoon, both stations were charging $3.57.9. While volatility in gas prices has become almost common in Bulloch County, Georgia and around the nation for many years, it still drives motorists crazy and fuels the idea that drivers are being gouged by the oil companies, the government, gas station owners or a combination of all three.But for Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, the two primary culprits for high gas prices, and their volatile nature, are easy to identify: speculators in the gasoline futures commodities market and growing global demand, particularly in China.“The Chinese impact is huge,” DeHaan said. “The Chinese are importing more than double the oil they were a decade ago. Their market is rapidly improving as US consumers continue to buy Chinese goods, ship our money over there.
Getting gouged?
Rising demand, speculation squeezing all at pump