You might be starting to feel as if you’re only going to work to make enough money to go to work. Gas prices keep on rising. And rising. And rising. You might be wondering when rising gas prices are going to stop, or if they ever will. And the odds are, you’re wondering why they keep going up. Well, good news. This article is going to tell you why gas keeps going up and when, if ever, you can expect them to go down.

Reason Number One: Supply and Demand

The more people who want something in limited supply, the more it is going to cost. The number of people who need gas keeps going up, and so do the prices. China and India have nearly a third of the world’s population, and their need for oil has skyrocketed, driving up the prices for oil and as a result, gas. The golden years of the economic boom in the US also led to skyrocketing gas use as people bought bigger and bigger vehicles.

Reason Number Two: The Oil Bubble

First there was the Internet Bubble. Then there was the Housing Bubble. Now it’s time for the Oil Bubble. Both internet stocks and houses had their prices rise rapidly as people began to invest in them in a frenzy, and the resultant competition drove the prices up, up, up. The same thing is happening to oil, which is driving up gas prices. The higher the prices get, the more people are attracted to the promise of them going up even more and the competition gets even worse.

The good news for gas prices is that eventually, just like the other bubbles, this one will eventually burst. Eventually people are going to come to their senses and the bidding for each barrel will get less intense. Oil prices will drop, then gas prices will drop.

Reason Number Three: Low Reserves

For several years, oil refineries have made an effort to become more efficient, which means that the amount of oil they are keeping on hand has decreased. This affects gas prices because it makes the reserves more vulnerable to natural disasters and mechanical failure, all of which make prices more likely to rise. The extra risk feeds into both the supply and demand and bubble problems, amplifying them and gas prices.

Another reason for high gasoline prices is speculation in the stock market on oil.