Getting All Pumped Up

摘要

Kill! says the sign in the oil-trading room at Mobil's Fairfax, Va., headquarters. Keep inventories low and lean. It's not clear who the target of this grim directive is meant to be. But in recent weeks gasoline buyers have had the funny feeling it's them. A double-digit price spike at the pumps since February has made headlines and sent journalists out to hunt Big Oil, that favorite bogeyman of politicians and populists.