Let me start by saying that I don't have any inside info or know of any collusion for a fact. However, I do think the question is worth asking and discussing.
Several times over the last fifteen years, the oil lobby and the Republicans have tried to pass legislation to get drilling going in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve, which borders the Arctic Ocean and which sits on oil fields. They have always come up short. Lately, with republicans controlling the house, senate and white house, they have come very close. There was just enough Democratic opposition to sustain a "filibuster" in the Senate, defeating the energy bill by 2 votes last year. (It had already cleared the house and Bush's ink well was full for the signing.) Republicans believe that, if they can just get a little bit more public support behind it, they can ram it through.
The reason the public has not supported it in the past is because it is EXTREMELY short sighted. It will permanently wreck one of the most pristine places on earth and the most pristine place in the United States. It will take years to get the oil flowing ( so no immediate or short term drop in gas prices) and the total oil output would be six months worth of the nation's oil use. SIX MONTHS.
As you probably noticed, gas prices seem unusually (artificially?) high this spring, ahead of what will be a higher peak this summer. This is odd given that the OPEC cartel only cut production this week. And given the fact that Iraq's oil is now flowing. And given the fact that this winter wasn't as cold as some of the other winters we've had recently.
I also noticed that President Bush is steadfastly declining to tap into America's strategic oil reserves. (A quantity of oil the U. S. keeps on hand which is supposed to be released during times of rapidly rising gas prices.)
It is only a matter of time before more and more people start complaining more and more loudly about these gas prices, especially if they continue to rise. I can hear the Republican distortions now, on the Rush Limbaugh show (which I don't even listen to), Fox News channel, ect. "These gas prices are so darn high because lilly livered liberals and democrats think it is more important let the bugs live in Alaska than it is to get the oil we need. We need to start drilling in ANWAR unless you want to keep paying these prices for gas..."
It is illegal for companies and/or governments to collude and keep prices artificially high for a product, when competition between them is supposed to keep prices in check. Maybe that's not what's happening. Then again, maybe it is.