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Billion. >> well, peter, thank you very much for coming on. i can honest will i say i enjoy talking to you but i hope we don't have to keep having the same conversation if the prices continue to tick up. >> i'd like to come back with better news. >> i hope you do. thank you. and here is another talker out there. how fast is too fast? safety groups are voicing their outrage today over a proposal in texas to raise the speed limit from 80 to 85 on certain stretches of highway. now, if approved, the lone star state would own the highest speed limit in the country. supporters say the increased li...

Gallon, 93 cents higher than a year ago. in chicago and new york city, gas is above 4 bucks a gallon. joining me is peter butell, president of the energy tracking firm cameron hanover. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> it would be easy to blame this on what we're seeing in the middle east and north africa but by all accounts that is not the exclusive reason we're seeing these ridiculously high gas prices. >> no. most of it, in fact, came earlier in 2010 on the back of a very weak u.s. dollar and on fears of inflation. also, every time we got positive economic data, people would assume,...

Countries -- and of course the greatest concern is that it could spread into saudi arabia, and i'm not saying it's going to -- but if you look at a map you see how quickly things are moving, that's the great fear. >> peter, thanks so much. appreciate it. texas is considering a controversial new immigration law. the proposed legislation would make hiring an unauthorized alien a crime punishable up to two years in prison and $10,000 fine. there's a big loophole. the bill would allow hiring undocumented maid, care take irri irrir. joining me now, an msnbc contributor and, maria, the first bill ...

>> peter, some people may ask the question, libya only produces 2% of the world's oil. so why such a huge spike in gas prices? >> well, we're not so worried about libya. yes, libya is the flash point. the saudis say they can take care of that and replace that oil. but what scares everybody, you look at a map and of course you have all of north africa with unrest. and now you're closing in on what i call the petroleum gulf, and in that area you have iran, iraq, the uae, kuwait, qatar, bahrain, ohman, yemen and saudi arabia. those countries right there on that gulf sit on 60% to 65% of the world...

And a year ago it was only $2.71. bottom line, the prices are going up. joining me now, oil analyst peter butell. this is a real problem for a lot of people, especially people who have to drive, 30 minutes or more to work. we already see $4 a gallen in some places. how high are you predicting it may go? >> well, we usually see a high around memorial day, and the way we're going, it looks like we may have already hit my earliest predictions, which were -- was for it to get this high. i think we probably have another 25 or 30 cents to go. and i may be conservative there, as well. but we do have ...