1. By Alex Yingling

2. Hurricane Damage During 2005 hurricane season, underwater pipelines were affected causing production to drop between 300 and 400 thousand barrels

3. Oil Platforms 717 manned oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. As recently as Hurricane Ike, 591 platforms were evacuated

4. Global Demand Global demand is reaching oil production capacity. Very little disposable supply for the United States to take.

5. Evacuations Large scale evacuations cause spike in oil consumption

6. Shutdown of Refineries Closing and evacuation of oil refineries

7. Foreign Dependency United States needs to develop an ability to maintain an excess capacity of oil, that can keep prices down

8. Vulnerable Markets Dependence on foreign oil has made market very vulnerable to disruptions

9. Slow Construction of Refineries Stagnant building of oil refineries has caused refining capacity to also become a problem

10. Filling Your Tank People compound the problem by continually topping off gas tanks when not necessary

11. America’s Oil Bill For every 10 cent increase, Americans add 14 billion to their annual oil bill