Some questions about gas/crude oil prices

Currently, crude oil prices are about $90/barrell. This is very
epensive in absolute and real terms. The reasons why crude oil is
expensive are because OPEC has reduced production of processing/
drilling the crude oil. Therefore, less supply is met with a (almost)
constant demand which is reflected on higher costs. Also, the USD is
getting weaker, so Americans perceive this price increase moreso than
others (i.e. Europeans, Indians, South Americans). Also, because the
taxes are much higher in European countries, and their prices are much
more because of this, they have a "price cushion" on their gas.

For example (I'm generating numbers that are easy to work with, and
not based on facts), both the USA and the UK buy gas at $1. The USA
puts a 5% tariff on this, and sells the gas for $1.05. The UK buys
the same gas at $1, but they place a $1 tax on this. Therefore, they
sell it to the consumer at $2. However, one day, the prices of gas
increased by 50%. The USA has to pay $1.55 for their gas, but the UK
only has $2.50 for the same gas. The USA has seen a gas price
increase of around 50%, while the UK has seen a price increase of
25%.


Q1: Why couldn't the oil-rich nations restrict the production of oil
in the past so that the prices of crude oil increase?

It seems that not only did sales of crude oil increase now, but so did
the oil profits. I am totally baffled why all the Arabic nations,
Venezuela, Iran, and Russia never did this in the past. I'm not
suggesting that we have another oil-shock, but they should, in much
the same way our FRB adjusts interest rates, determine optimal
production amounts for maximum earnings.

Q2: Regarding the taxation of gas prices, does the Internal Revenue
Services set the taxes as a *percentage* of gas prices (i.e. 30% of
the cost of gas), or as an absolute amount per unit of gas (i.e. taxes
of $1.00 per gallon)?
.

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