Understanding Oil Prices

The price of oil has dipped below $60 a barrel, a five-year milestone. Meanwhile in the L.A. area, the price of regular gas has dropped below three dollars a gallon. What’s going on? With U.S. production way up, are the Saudis trying to drive U.S. oil producers out of the market? Can the U.S. continue to frack oil from hard-to-access shale deposits at such low prices? And why do different gas stations -- often in close proximity to each other -- charge different rates?