[sammyg2]

MYTHBUSTERS to the rescue:

98% of all gas stations in the good ole US of A are independently owned and operated. As in, they are not owned by the big bad oil companies.
If you don't like the prices at the corner station chances are the owner is to blame, not the oil companies.
Yep, it's your neighbor down the street who owns that station who is to blame for ripping you off, not the oil company. Put the blame where it belongs.
Don't start saying that it's OK because he has a right to make a living either.
The gas station owner makes a gross profit typically 20 times as large as the profit the oil refinery gets to make the gas. He typically makes 20 times as much on every gallon as the big bad oil company.

Please, lets stop pretending that the oil companies are controlling the retail prices. they simply are not. Saying they do either proves you don't understand, or that you are trying to decieve.
It isn't that they don't want to control the prices, it's just they they are basically powerless to do so.

They make gas and offer it for sale. it goes to the highest bidder, just like on E-bay.
Obviously they want to get as much as possible but that depends on what the buyer is willing to pay. If joe blow oil company is willing to sell his gas cheaper, you would have to lower your price to meet his. The wholesale price is very volitile lately, because investors are scooping up buy options and spot market surplusses in hopes that some sort of event will occur to drive up prices so they can make $$$. Problem is, when the supply is barely meeting demand these speculators create a self-fulfilling prophesy. Even the slightest hint of a rumor can send them scrambling to jump on the bandwagon, which drives the prices up quickly. They are the ones who are manipulating the prices, and are doing it with little supervision.

The oil companies can't do anything about the supply, if they tried that they'd be in jail in a new york second.
See, the government (state and federal) watches them very closely. The government knows how much they can and should produce. They keep track. If anything (like a power failure or mechanical breakdown of critical equipment) occurs, the refinery has less than 24 hours to call it in so the government can investigate, and they do. Every time. If an oil refinery intentionally tried to cut production to increase price, they'd be hauled up in front of a congressional hearing.