The international price for oil is quoted and traded in US dollars so the value of the dollar to other currencies does not directly affect the price of a barrel in the US (a weak dollar effectively makes oil cheaper elsewhere in the world). The US produces about a quarter of its own oil requirements, that makes us largely dependent on foreign oil, the majority of which come from OPEC countries. The amount of fuel used for transport which is not directly or indirectly dependent on oil is miniscule, that means that we have very limited capacity to switch energy sources. Drilling in ANWR will only produce (if any) oil in years time, long enough to make its contribution to supply/demand economics trivial. Oil is still relatively cheap here in the US, ask anyone in Eurpoe or Africa. People still complain but their actions dont match their words, we still buy hulking 8 cylinder vehicles. Gas (or diesel) generally does not hit the radar on the average family budget. When it comes to changing the price of oil OPEC have by far the strongest hand the rest is just political posturing on our part as we cant really do anything about oil production, and we are having an increasingly smaller say in the size of demand for oil. Our politicians talk and talk about the price of oil and the traders pay no attention, but you can bet they all know when the next meeting of OPEC is and any change on OPEC's part and the price of a barrel feels it. The US is a becomming a proportionally less important player in the world supply/demand scenario for oil, I think its time we stopped shouting and really did something about it - make your next car a hybrid etc - actually no why bother gas is cheap I will just get something a little bigger than I need - perhaps a 45 hp tractor as opposed to a 32 hp I currently have. Its all just talk we are paying spectators at this show.

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