Crude oil down 10% in past week
(NewsNation) — There’s some good news when it comes to the price of gas, but it may take a while for drivers to see it.
Gasoline futures hit an all-time high on June 8 and have fallen steadily ever since — the price of crude oil has dropped 10 percent since last Monday.
Yet while companies are now paying 28 cents per gallon less, the nationwide average has increased by a penny since actual prices began to fall.
So the big question becomes: When will consumers see things get better at the pump?
A study done back in the late ’90s found that energy companies passed along at least 75% of a crude oil increase to customers within a week of their prices going up, but it took an average of eight weeks for the same amount of a decline in prices to show up at the pump.
That may explain why five of the largest oil companies in the U.S. reported at least a 200% increase in profits last quarter.