Given increasingly abundant supplies of natural gas and crude in the U.S., some consumers scratch their heads at the sight of high gas prices, which aren't expected to sink much as the summer season gets under way.
Yet some observers point a finger at inefficiencies in the U.S. transportation system, which forces oil companies to rely heavily on heavy transport to move crude supplies. Crude pipelines – such as the hotly debated Keystone XL that's now mired in Washington politics – could transport fuel more rapidly and at lower cost, some argue.
Better methods of transportation are needed "to move the commodities from where they are to where they aren't," said Joe Petrowski, Gulf Oil's CEO, in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" this week.
Modernized railroads and shipping routes can help facilitate easier transportation of crude, analysts say, making infrastructure needs a key cog in the machinery of oil production. The better the transport, the more quickly crude can make it to areas of the country where prices are frothy.