CNN Money reports today on new records for oil and gas prices. Oil prices hit an all-time high near $120 a barrel Monday after a weekend refinery strike closed a pipeline system that delivers a third of Britain’s North Sea oil to refineries in the U.K.

The shutdown comes amid supply outages in Nigeria that have helped to support oil against a strengthening dollar.

In the U.S., retail gasoline also hit a record for the 13th straight time. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded rose to $3.603, up four-tenths of a cent from the previous day, according to auto organization AAA.

“We’ve got a confluence of a number of events that have really disrupted crude oil supply,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. “That’s what’s driving oil to a new record even though the U.S. dollar actually strengthened a bit.”

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Confluence of a number of events alright. The oil companies and traders even get a sense of prices coming down, then any excuse in the book will send the prices back up. Strengthening dollar? No problem, use the strike as an excuse to send the prices higher. A strike is a predicable event. Workers have used strikes for ages as a negotiating tool. It won’t go on forever, and there probably won’t be violence or plant destruction involved.

We need to reduce demand in the short term as much as we can. Support all the green efforts you can.

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