Does the Internet Leave Something Out on What Increases Oil Prices?

  You can listen to the Internet, if you like, but I will take issue with what it says when you ask it what determines oil prices. Go ahead, ask it what the determinants are, and it will say:

"The two primary factors that impact the price of oil are: Supply and demand. Cost of production. Market sentiment."

I wonder, though, whether demand varies much. There is some variation, but is there enough to account for the rise of gas prices in the last 50 years? Gasoline and heating fuel are constant necessities. If you need 15 gallons of gas one week, you need the same 15 gallons the next. If you need so much heating oil to keep you house warm one winter, you usually need about the same the next winter. Supply and demand doesn't explain the rise in gasoline prices from 36 cents a gallon 50 years ago to $3.19 today.