Originally Posted by
alexk1980
Why is it when oil prices go up you see a direct increase at the pump. Now that oil is almost $90/barrel, why is gas still up in the mid $3/gal? Does anyone else wonder this, its quick to go up but long to come back down....
Well you don't see a direct increase because oil goes up. Usually takes up to six weeks. When you see the direct increase, like recently, it's because refining capacity was limited(IKE).
When oil goes down the prices follow. When you see the price per barrel those are contracts for the future. Not immediate which is why it takes a few weeks to go down as well as up. The price might be down right now but we have to go through the $100+ contracts that oil was at very recently.
Gas should be below $3 per gallon right now however the price to manufacture the oil has increased dramatically due to refining limits. If we want the price of gas to come down we need new refineries.