Full of gas

So the good news is that

[t]he retail price of gasoline declined for the second week in a row, falling to an average of $1.85 per gallon, the Energy Department reported Tuesday.

The bad news is that

[p]rices are 13.3 cents higher than a year ago,

which means they've gone up 8% over that time. And the new figure is actually a significant drop from the peak reported by the DOE, which was $2.06 a gallon, on May 22. That was an increase of 20% over last year.

Now, here's what I'm wondering: I recall back in the old days that every uptick in the price of crude oil was immediately registered at the pump; the excuse offered was that the increase in the price of gasoline was "in anticipation of higher prices coming through the pipeline." And yes, that is a quote. Although I can't source it, the phrase is burned in my memory, because I noted that it was in fact an admission that they were raising prices even though their costs hadn't actually gone up.

But this year, that doesn't seem to have happened. Even when light crude hit a record price of $50 a barrel, the effect on gasoline prices was minimal. This, remember, was after a year in which gas prices shot up 20% supposedly because of the rising price of crude - but even though crude oil prices remain high, even broke a record, the average price for gasoline has actually dropped.

So gee, what's the difference now? Is there something different about this year as opposed to last year, something different about 2004 as opposed to 2003, some special circumstance about this year that might be making the oil companies restrain their greed? Some longer-term advantage they might see in keeping prices down, at least for now?

Just wondering.