$2 a Gallon Gas, Michele Bachmann? Aim Higher.

Big city-dwellers notwithstanding, American consumers may purchase gasoline more frequently than any other item. In fact, according to a 2009 Nilson report, when it comes to credit card purchases, gas is the most frequent purchase. Food, groceries and retail items are also on the list, but when you think about it, it makes sense—most Americans pump their own gas on a very regular basis.

For many people the price of gas relates directly to their work. Taxi drivers, truck drivers, and the millions who commute by car are directly impacted by fluctuations in the cost of gasoline. For these reasons and many others, we as well as many people in other developed countries are hyper-sensitive to gasoline's price. It is also difficult to think of almost any business, anywhere in the world, whose bottom line is not affected by the price of a fossil-fuel based energy. In other words, if you move anything other than paper the price of gasoline is probably important to you.

'Frack' oil wells draw California into debate

Steve Craig is used to oil companies operating near his ranch in the smooth, rounded hills of southern Monterey County.

But Craig draws the line at "fracking."

A company called Venoco Inc. wants to try hydraulic fracturing in the Hames Valley near Bradley, using a high-pressure blend of water, sand and chemicals to crack rocks deep underground and release oil locked in the stone.

The same technique has revolutionized America's natural gas business in the past five years, boosting production and driving down prices. It has also been blamed for tainting groundwater near fracked wells, a charge that drilling companies deny.

Anyone living near the Hames Valley has long experience with the oil industry. The San Ardo oil field - a thicket of pipes, power lines and pump jacks - sits about 5 miles up Highway 101, a source of petroleum and jobs since 1947.

But the possibility of polluted water alarms Craig and others, who have appealed to the county government to block Venoco. The fact that California, so far, does not regulate fracking bothers Craig just as much.

newIrving Oil concerns pushed gas prices up

Irving Oil Ltd. is denying having any production outages at its Saint John-based oil refinery after concerns of problems caused gasoline prices to spike up on Thursday.

Carolyn Van der Veen, a spokeswoman for Irving Oil, said in an email on Friday that the refinery suffered a "minor upset" on Thursday.

"But there are no production problems at the refinery. It's normal operations here and business as usual," Van der Veen said in an email.

While Irving Oil is denying any ongoing problems at its New Brunswick refinery, concerns over possible production issues caused gasoline markets in New York to spike upward on Thursday.