While we drivers do not like the direction gas prices are taking one bit (that would be inching up), investors in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for gas and oil are seeing opportunity knocking.

Gas is up a nickel a gallon, and $3/gal is the target many experts are pointing to. Oil prices are up to $82/barrel. Tension in Nigeria. China still building up its reserves.

Check out the charts in the article.

It all looks like a classic case of buy low, sell high to us. Might be a good time to get some protection for your fuel budget.

US Energy Sec, Dr. Steven Chu, doesn’t think so.

Wide swings in oil prices are difficult for industries to manage and the U.S. government is concerned about another price spike, Chu said.

Even $80 oil is making him nervous.

“We’ve repeatedly said what the world wants and needs is stable prices,” Chu said. “They have been inching up recently and it’s a little bit concerning.”

We’d be doing some hedging here instead of counting on Dr. Chu to do it for us.

maxkeiser.com purports that it certainly could be, AND this could be the reason for the recent boom in oil prices.

Quoted is the London Evening Standard that reports that Bernstein Research has been spying on the country in question, and has concluded that the Chinese are actively hoarding supplies.

It could be dollar-related. In any case, crude oil prices are supported and will continue to be going forward. (This means oil prices are not going down any time soon.)

Even a little bit more. It seems those stockpiles we keep hearing about are shrinking.

If people were surprised by how fast crude oil moved from $50 to $60, they will be really shocked by how quickly the market will hit $70,” said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president of energy at Macquarie Futures USA Inc. in New York.

We sure don’t like to hear about this stuff with summer fast approaching.

Feet, don’t fail me now!

We sure would, but it doesn’t look like they are done yet.

The Lundberg Survey has gas prices up $0.25 in the last three weeks. So what if they’re $1.49 lower than a year ago! It’s our wallet we’re talking about here.

Unrest in Nigeria, and a fire at a US refinery are not helping.

We just want to put our budget in Quicken and forget about it. You?