PEOPLE PLEASE ANSWER!! Why has gas prices not gone down more, since oil prices have dropped $118 dollars a

Barrel. Can you please explain this to me in detail.PEOPLE PLEASE ANSWER!! Why has gas prices not gone down more, since oil prices have dropped $118 dollars a
The gasoline you are buying today was refined from oil that was purchased a month or more ago when the price of oil was much higher. Also, it is being reported that gas station owners are trying to hold prices up a bit to increase their margins.





Let's say Exxon bought XXX barrels of oil from Aramco (Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company) on July 1st for $135.00 a barrel. That oil has to be transported from a Saudi port to a refinery (here or abroad) to be refined. The refined product then has to be transported to gas stations for sale. That process may take more than 30 days, so the gas you buy today may have been refined from oil for which the company paid $135.00 a barrel, not for today's price of $118.00 a barrel. When crude prices rise or fall, it takes time for the increases or decreases to show up at the pump. But they will show up.





If (and this is a big if) the price of oil stays at $118.00 a barrel, you should see gas that now costs $4.00 a gallon drop to about $3.40 a gallon within a few weeks.





It's impossible to determine just how much paper traders (speculators who buy and sell contracts for oil but never take physical delivery of the oil) impact the price of oil, but it is being reported that they are bailing out of the market. The oil companies also buy and sell contracts for future (one to two months out) delivery, but they do take physical delivery of the oil. There is talk of imposing stricter regulations on traders who specialize in oil and other essential commodities, but that may be impossible. Oil futures are trader in many places around the world and speculators are hard to keep under control.





Now we need to continue to conserve. If gas hits $3.40 a gallon, many people will breathe a sign of relief and start driving more. That will almost certainly drive the price of oil right back up. We also need to press ahead with alternative fuels -- or I should say START something significant on that front. This would be a very bad time to relax.





BTW, now that beer is cheaper than oil, we need to change our slogan to ';Drink, Don't Drive!'; Hic! :)PEOPLE PLEASE ANSWER!! Why has gas prices not gone down more, since oil prices have dropped $118 dollars a
Don't have details, but the price of a barrel affects future costs. We buy millions of barrels a day, but it's crude oil. It still has to be refined and distributed... Also, different local markets are affected differently, mostly because of hte distribution issues.





Prices have been going down steadily for the past couple of weeks in average, however speculation is going to affect it also, so the numbers don't necessarily match up.








***EDIT***





Just saw a post about how gas companies don't have motivation to lower gas prices and how Republicans like the higher profits. I hope people don't believe that garbage.





The fact is that America has oil ';companies';, not ';an'; oil ';company';. Just like Walmart lowers prices so that you'll shop there instead of Kmart, and Kmart has to scramble to attempt to lower prices so that you'll go back to shoping there, Oil companies have to compete for your business. If you see two gas stations across the street from each other, do you not go for the one that's 1 cent less? 1 cent?





The real truth is that ALL politicians get money from taxes collected from oil sales. The government gets 3 TIMES more money from gas than the companies get themselves... you think gas profits are high right now? Record high? Please open your eyes and realize that the government just got record taxes also!





Why would the real government power, the Congress, want to allow a vote on drilling, something that could potentially address the issue of supply and demand and therefore cause the government to get LESS taxes.





All of you Republican bashing people... open your eyes and see the truth. All politicians suck, regardless of party. lol





Given the choice, I'd rather have a politician that keeps quiet, makes a personal deal and makes my cost of living cheaper INSTEAD OF one who lies to my face, tries to convince me with a half truth, and makes my life more expensive.
';Fadel Gheit, a senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer, projected a more dramatic reduction in oil prices, noting that Obama's SPR plan could ';cut prices in half.';





Gheit said that prior releases from the SPR during the administrations of former Presidents Bush and Clinton during the 1990s were ';knock-out punches'; that caused oil prices to drop dramatically. He said that to maximize the impact, which is primarily psychological, Obama should not provide hard numbers to make it harder for speculators to project future prices.





';We should not have a limit on what we will release,'; said Gheit. ';That is the best way to keep speculators off balance.';';
Because the price just dropped in the last day or so. It takes time for the changes to work through the system. The gas in the tanker that is sitting down at the Gas'N'Gulp right now was pumped out of the ground as petroleum maybe 2-3 months ago, when prices were $130-$140/barrel. The oil companies aren't going to sell that at what it costs them today to pump crude, or they will lose money. You'd do the same if you were in their shoes.
I don鈥檛 know about you guys but I鈥檓 getting very sick and tired of having to spend an unreasonable percentage of my monthly income just to drive around. Living in California certainly does not help the situation, either! Some people commute over 90 miles (each way) just to get to work. I guess I鈥檓 one of the lucky ones, since I only commute 25 miles to get to work. While I鈥檓 sitting there in the usual L.A. traffic, cooking in my car from the scorching summer heat, thinking about how I have another 22 miles to go, looking at my gas gauge and seeing it near empty, remembering that I have to pay $4.50 per gallon for gas in an hour (or more) doesn鈥檛 help my mood very much...






Yes. The reason gas prices haven't gone down that much is because the American people have proven that they can and will pay $4.05 per gallon for gas. Therefore, the gas companies have no motivations to lower prices. Why lower prices when you know you can sell just as much at the higher price? This is what Republicans rejoice in when they say that oil companies are ';making a profit.'; The rest of us call it ';price gouging.';
it takes a while for lower crude oil prices to be seen at the pump. because of taxation gas has to charged at a certain price depending on how much that shipment of crude oil cost. once those expensive stocks of crude are expended then the new lower cost shipments of crude can be refined and there will be lower prices at the pump.
Most of that price drop has happened in the last week. The oil prices that are covered in the news are for oil future - i.e., oil that will be delivered to the buyer a month or more in the future. Gasoline prices are still high simply because what we're currently buying was made from the oil bought for $140 or $150/barrel.
Simple high school economics.


Supply and demand!


Stop driving and the fuels costs go down.


Same with the housing market. People stopped buying and the prices went down.


Make a statement and carpool or walk your big a**es where you need to go.
We are being price gouged. Whenever oil prices INCREASE, gas immediately does the same. Yet when oil prices decreas, it takes much longer for gasoline prices to follow.
Gas has fallen 5.6 percent since hitting an-all time high above $4 a gallon on July 17, but so far hasn't kept up with oil's steep descent, suggesting struggling filling stations are still saddled with gas bought when crude prices were higher.
Oil prices dropped below $118 TODAY. I think it will take a little time for the price decrease to work through the system.





That said, gas prices have been falling lately as the price of oil has fallen.
I think they've gone down considerably. In under a month we've gone from $4.35 a gallon to $3.85 a gallon. Every bit helps
For one thing, the price of crude has not dropped $118. It has dropped about $20. That will translate over the course of the next few days into about a 30 cent drop in the pump price per gallon.
Gas in my town in PA has gone from $3.97 to $3.79 in the past week.
I'm sure tired of the high gas prices. Someone told me about this site which gives away free gift cards for gas. I can really recommend it.
Gas prices here are now standing at $3.55 for the past week.
We've already shown we're willing to pay high prices, that's why.
Here in my area of Seattle, WA gas of 87 octane was $3.55 and is now $3.09
GREED ! The more tose over-rich Arab oil barons get, the greedier they get.
What is gas, I ride a 3 wheel bike.
your tires are flat