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According to USA today the average price of gas in the US continues to tumble, almost free falling toward levels not seen in five months. Mike O’Connor, president of the Virginia Petroleum says, “The reason prices are going down so far so fast is that they shouldn’t have been that high in the first place.”
With a barrel of oil falling from a high of $149 a barrel to today’s low of $112.72 why is it that their nationwide average for regular was $3.85 a gallon, that was 10.9 cents lower than a week earlier, That equals to $1.01 cents a liter.
BC prices have hardly shown that dramatic a reduction in price. Even when you figure in our outlandish taxes and the tiny difference in the dollar, the cheapest price per liter of fuel in BC is 1.25.4 in Mission at the Save-On- Foods gas pumps. The most expensive is in the Powel River area where the prices are still in the $1.49 per liter range. When I last looked in Nanaimo we were still paying $1.37 a liter.
The last time the price of a barrel of oil was 112.00 was in mid April of 2008. The price of a litre of fuel in our area was $1.26 that’s a full $.11 cents less than the prices were paying today. When I asked the powers in the oil companies why there is such a discrepancy, their answer was that they have to sell off the high priced reserve oil in their tanks and eliminate that from their inventory before they can pass on the savings.
That my friend is a load of bull. When I asked why they didn’t pass on the saving of the cheaper oil they purchased when the oil was skyrocketing they had no answer and the price at the pump went up almost faster than world market price. They certainly didn’t wait to pass on the savings on these occasions The gas business is one of the only markets where you can have your cake and eat it too.
I think the reason the gas industry in this country is not in any hurry to please the masses is the same reason the telecommunication industries have absolutely no fear of consumer retaliation. No real competition exists in this country. We will have to scream loud enough for enterprising politicians to hear us and run with the ball. Until then I think were stuck with higher prices and the utter arrogance and indifference of the gas companies.

Gas prices for Campbell, CA. August 2, 2008 @ 12:30PM these were reduced by over .10 cents By August 11, 2008.