Questioning oil’s rationale

SAN FRANCISCO — Now that the oil market has seen $75 per barrel and retail gasoline prices are near $3 a gallon, are we doomed to see a repeat of inflation-adjusted 1980s prices?

Crude prices are approaching the true all-time high of close to $40 seen in the early 1980s, which translates to around $90 in today’s dollars.

Regular unleaded gasoline prices currently average above $2.91 per gallon at the pump, not far from the record of nearly $3.07 from September 2005.

They would need to be above $3.12 in today’s dollars to match the more than $1.41 price from 1981, according to U.S. government data.

MarketWatch