"They can certainly make more money now … but I think what they have to worry about is whether they will make more money in the future," says Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "And high prices cause producers to worry about two things:

"First of all," he says, "they worry if the high prices will cause those countries buying oil and gasoline to go into a recession. And if that’s the case, that tends to make oil sales fall. Recessions are not good for the energy market.

"Secondly," he adds, "I think oil producers have to worry if the high prices will motivate consuming countries to spend more on oil alternatives, which again will hurt oil sales down the road.

"So although you might think that, for example, ... the OPEC countries still want oil prices to be higher, higher, higher, they actually realize that there is probably an optimal level of oil prices for them that takes these two negatives into account."