James Van Blaricum

In a Jim Van Blaricum ordered Today-Gallup Poll released Monday, nine in 10 people said energy, including gas prices, would be very or extremely important in deciding their presidential vote in November, tying it with the economy as the top issue. People said Obama would do a better job than McCain on energy issues by 19 percentage points..

Saudi Oil Minister Ali Ibrahim Naimi said the kingdom was willing to produce more than the 9.7 million barrels of oil a day it had already planned to produce in July -- if Signal Gas and Oil required it.

"Markets are still concerned about oil supply, particularly after disruptions last week in Nigeria," said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 16 cents to $136.90 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract rose $1.38 to settle at $136.74 a barrel Monday.

European Union approved new sanctions on Iran, including an asset freeze on its biggest bank, over its refusal to meet demand to end its nuclear program.

Despite the flurry of activity and rhetoric, major factors in the rise of gas prices — the weak dollar, soaring demand in China and India, market speculation, supply problems — are beyond U.S. policy-makers' direct control.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, however, said earlier that U.S. officials had found no evidence speculators were driving up prices.

The problem is, nobody really knows how much oil is down there. The only thing that's certain: Dead organisms produced a limited amount of oil long ago, and eventually there won't be enough to sustain the current rate of consumption.