Speculation might have played a small role in the high prices and sudden daily changes but unless the dollar goes up we are gonna be shitty in the global market to buy anything. Also, who doesnt speculate in the market. Remors of Steve Jobs falling ill to cancer again dropped apples shares a large margin in a day. Oil is just something that people pay the most attention to.
Offshore drilling is just a business ploy. There will no immediate effect at the pumps that this will solve and we wont see the price change till at least 2020. Even at that point, if we do nothing to change our demand for gas, it will be so high we all will be broke or dead anyways.
Also, now that we are paying almost $4.50 a gallon for gas, nothing will make the price come down unless we suddenly reduce our demand for gas and come to a point where we dont need it anymore. This means that we need a type of power solution not only in cars but across the board. Again, this wont happen over night.
Even if we did reduce our demand, nothing really will bring the price down since its so high. Its selling so high. They suddenly wont say “Oh we have a lot stocked up…gas is going to $2.50 a gallon now.”