It's a new record

[Alex]

Depends on how you define gouging.

So long as they aren't lying about the total supply of oil or somehow committing fraud to get people to buy their product (an eternally asked question which so far hasn't produced much in the way of evidence) then I would say they aren't. But by other definitions they are simply for having crossed some threshhold of "making too much money." The former is generally illegal and the latter is generally not.

For the most part, oil is sold on an open market. What is BP supposed to do, say "oh no, we can't possibly take the $75 you're willing to pay for a barrel of oil, how about $45"? The price of taking oil out of the ground hasn't really changed (and the amount of oil coming out of the ground hasn't really changed) but the amount of oil people want keeps increasing. What happens to price in that situation is pretty predictable. Add to that people trying to stockpile oil since they fear future supply may be interrupted and you get even higher prices.