Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but this is what I have read and hopefully gotten correct on the price of Gas.
Gas is traded in contracts or futures. Those futures are for the upcoming month, and those contracts can vary from day to day, but there are points in trading when those contracts for the upcoming months close. Depending on where you are located, and how tough it is to get the refined fuel to your area will also dictate what your price will be. There are piping systems all over the U.S. for the energy, and cost to each area are different.
If you see the trading price of gas has gone down, expect it to go down at the pump, roughly a month later. You also have to view it in percentage's rather than in the dollar per barrel. Example, what percentage did gas fall on the overall price on the barrel? That percentage will equate to the penny figure that gas goes up or down.
Where the Industry was making a killing last summer was on the speculation that they could drive these contracts up based on demand. The speculators to some extent have had to pull out because they can no longer keep their cash cow in this market. The money they made off of gas is now being held onto and eventually will be speculated in the next "big" thing.
If I am completely wrong here tell me, but this is what I have read, and I think come to understand about the gas prices.
