Gas prices on the rise, again

The price of oil briefly topped $100 a barrel for the first time this week and you were paying more for gasoline by the next day.

You aren’t alone if you are wondering why.

Linda Casey, a spokeswoman for Marathon Petroleum Co., said consumers often question why gas prices rise almost immediately when there is a spike in oil prices.

After all, the thinking goes, the gasoline that you are pumping was made from oil that was bought at a lower price. Shouldn’t the gasoline’s price stay the same until its replaced with gasoline that came from more expensive oil?

That doesn’t happen overnight. It takes about 30 days for oil to be bought, refined into gasoline and transported to a gas station.

Casey said oil companies don’t think like that. They are looking ahead to the cost of replacing the gas that’s bought. Gasoline prices have to be set so the company has the cash to buy the oil that’s needed, Casey said.

For more, read Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com