To everyone,

From most of these responses, I conclude this is a sad state of affairs. I was over in Baghdad in 2004 and received nearly deadly wounds from a bomb. Myself and about 150,000 others are/were there to ensure cheap gas for Americans. I would love for all of us to completely rid ourselves of Middle East oil.

I think we must be near peak oil if a couple of hurricaines raised our gas prices by almost double. If we had more than just-in-time deliviery, I think the market could have absorbed the blow to supply. I don't think the problem derived from limited storage, although some might argue that.

I see reports about countries lowering their estimates of reserves (like Kuwait) and using water to pressurize the oil well (like Saudi Arabia at Ghawar), so this is what leads me to believe peak oil arguments.

Anyway, I appreciate all of the responses.

Jim