Gas has been pretty flippin' expensive in Europe for quite a while now. What new technology has that driven?
The evil BIG OIL of which you speak doesn't make an inordinate profit on a percentage basis. But they do make a convenient scape goat I guess.
The gas taxes paid for the public transit in Europe. I get off the plane in Frankfurt, take a 200 mph train to Paris, get on the metro, which takes me to easy walking distance anywhere in the entire city.
The BMW we rented in Germany (320I) got ~33 mpg (on 6 dollar a gallon gas) at 100+ mph. It has nearly 200 hp from a Gasoline Direct Injection motor.
Big oil does reap enormous profits that are tied to high, speculated prices of oil. The higher prices make otherwise expensive oil drilling more profitable (oil shale/sand/deep water/etc)
In a free market, there is not going to be a way to control gas prices. Even in a strict, government controlled market, there is a limit to what they can do.
One issue is that the oil is America (as in the people's) property, but we give it to Oil companies for pocket change (we let them drill, or even pay them to drill), rather than charging them for what its worth, or drilling it ourselves. Norway puts its oil money into a Sovereign Wealth Fund, which is used to stabilize the country's finances.