Profits.

Crude oil for November delivery was up to $84.02 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:13 a.m. London time. It rose as high as $83.04 earlier today, within one cent of the intraday record of $84.05 set on Oct. 12.

BP, Europe's second-largest oil company by market value and Shell, the biggest, climbed the most today, so the only good news with these high crude prices are for the oil companies and producers that stand to gain more and more profits, while the consumers pay more and more for less...
This situation is critical and cannot go on for much longer, goverments and world population should join forces and come up with the alternative solution, a new energy source is URGENTLY needed.