This art depicts 28, gallon barrels, the amount of oil consumed in the U.S. every two minutes (equal to the flow of a medium-sized river). Americans drive nearly 3 TRILLION miles per year. Thats about 820 trips and back. A. War. B. World events. C. Weather. D. Environmental standards cleaner burning gas. E. Taxes. F. Gas station mark-up. G. Distance from oil refinery. H. Oil futures (betting on the future price of resources.) G. Oil companies. Oil prices can change based on how much they want to supply. On October 16, 1973, OPEC announced a decision to raise the posted price of oil by 70%, to $5.11 a barrel.