CHICAGO - Drivers, start your griping. Crude oil costs less than it did a year ago - about $75 a barrel on Wednesday - but gasoline nationally averages 13 percent more.
Since gas prices shot up as oil sped to a record $147 a barrel this summer, you might wonder why prices have yet to experience an equally dramatic fall as oil has retreated amid economic woes.
Average gasoline prices were $3.13 a gallon Wednesday, according to the AAA. For those still fixated on the $4.11-a-gallon peak in July, that might appear to be a welcome change, unless you consider that gasoline was $2.76 a year ago when oil was above $75 a barrel.
There are several reasons to explain why gas prices are stubbornly high, not all of them reassuring.
Experts say gas prices climb like a rocket and slowly float downward like a feather, since the industry can bolster its profit margins when oil costs less. Compounding this phenomenon was the recent shutdown of refineries in the Gulf of Mexico as hurricanes Ike and Gustav struck, which squeezed gas supplies.
"The prices of oil and gas aren't always in tandem," said AAA-Chicago spokeswoman Nicole Niemi. "What we're seeing are ramifications of the hurricanes earlier this year. There were shortages and distribution problems and we're still catching up from that."
Experts also note that gasoline prices might not fall as much they should because they never rose as high as they could have.
Over the past decade, oil prices increased 14-fold, according to government statistics. By contrast, gasoline prices merely tripled.
"When we hit the highs in crude, the refiners weren't able to pass on all the costs," said Phil Flynn, an analyst for Alaron Trading Corp. "I've done estimates showing that gasoline should have been 25 percent higher when crude oil was at its peak."
Nor is the gasoline market as straightforward as it once was, since retailers can lock in wholesale gasoline at a variety prices, resulting in a range of prices at gas stations. One reason for this is that stores such as Wal-Mart now sell gas, whereas this was once the exclusive domain of local service stations, said David Sykuta, executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Council.
"There's no doubt about it prices are much more volatile than they used to be," said Sykuta. "And it's going to stay that way because you have all these different players with different prices to meet."
Customers at a Citgo station in downtown Chicago continue to behave as though gasoline prices are on the verge of reaching a new peak.
"Everything has changed," said Tricia Hoover, who commutes to work from Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Hoover said she doesn't visit her parents, who live in downstate Illinois, as often. She began to also the train and bus more, although public transportation has grown more crowded because of gas prices and she values having some personal space.
Graduate student Chris Singleton spends only $20 on gas rather than fill up his sedan, since the cost "just seems like less if you spread it out," he said.
Here's the potential good news for drivers: Oil prices have plummeted because the weak economy is sapping demand. On Wednesday, oil futures dropped $4.09, or 5.2 percent, to $74.54 a barrel. Analyst Steve Schork said that oil could soon reach $50 a barrel.
There's bad news there, too, of course: Who can afford to drive in a recession?
