With gas prices at an all time high, inflation rising, investment in oil and gas lowering all the time, and renewables not keeping up - how can we maintain some semblance of sanity with regards to prices at the pumps? We need to increase the volumetric throughput on existing assets which can be done via automation of the operations themselves. Here is a thought exercise on how an increase in operational efficiency can increase the supply of gasoline and thus result in lower prices at the pumps. disclaimer I know that pricing at the pumps is much more complex than this and the numbers used in this video are a proxy to real life. The point of this video is to take the basic principals of supply and demand economics and apply them to oil and gas and theoretically determine how prices at the pumps could be lower if we became more efficient at operating our existing oil and gas infrastructure. A summary of the video: In 2021, the USA consumed 19.78 bbl/d on average. Assuming 4% more volume can be added to existing infrastructure without significant investment, then 4% less than 19.78 bbl/d is 18.98 bbl/d. Now looking up oil consumption per year in the USA as that will be an easier way to approximate the price difference at the 4% more vs 4% less supply. Using the year as a proxy, I pulled the following, In the U.S. All Grades All Formulations Retail Gasoline Chart In 2021, gas prices were on average $3.2/G In 2017, gas prices were on average $2.52/G Then one could infer that an extra 4% barrel of oil equivalent (or more oil gas) could have saved ~ $0.48/G for consumers when prices at the pumps spiked last month, which in July could have brough the price down from $4.76/G to $4.19/G). The price is still over $4/G; however, I bet that single parent filling up their tank so that they can pick up their kids from school would have appreciated it. Of course , much much more goes into what actually becomes the daily price at the pumps and is obviously not mathematically correct; however, its an interesting thought exercise to make that proxy and think about what kind of an impact a seemingly small percentage of bbl/d could do for consumers. pipeBOT can increase volumetric on oil pipelines up to 4%. Given that pipelines are the "pipes" connecting everything, 4% more on those means you can 4% more product in and have 4% more to refine. Of course refinery capacity and oil field proximity to existing infrastructure and the willingness of the world to ramp up oil exploration are all factors but the main story here is that at the beginning of the energy transition where we are under-investing in oil and gas but renewables haven't caught up yet, then making our current assets more efficient are the only option we have to at least try and keep prices at the pumps reasonable during this inflation.