Demand has been rapidly decreasing. When prices got too high, many people stopped using recreational vehicles and cut back on unnecessary driving. Less quantity demanded = lower price to make the new market price.
Petrol prices are being forced down as pressure has been put on companies to pass the lower Oil prices on to consumers... instead of profiteering due to high price for consumer and lower price they are paying to buy the oil etc. The lower oil price should also help food prices as well due to lower transportation costs for transporting food... so hopefully supermarkets will start lowering the price of staple foods - bread,milk etc Everything combined, along with the banks being funded should help stability in the financial markets and should help consumer confidence. This will mean people will start buying again as they become more secure about prices and cost of living being met... although many will not spend just as much as they used to, they will start spending a bit more than they have been. A coincidence that this happens just as the busiest shopping period of the year approachs... I guess the previous bleak outlook for record low christmas sales may not come true... but it will not be a record high.
Can't say I agree with that. Oil companies don't directly control the prices consumers pay. They can only control the supply, quantity of barrels available. Making more oil available is how they could drive prices down, but that isn't what's happening right now. Right now a global weakening of consumer demand is driving prices down.
I didn't mention oil companies specifically... I said companies - this means any petrol station that is setting the price consumers pay and any company that is now paying lower fuel costs for transportation of their goods etc etc Global demand from consumers was lower due to the price rises - while it is lower from companies due to lower demand for their products. The lower demand will not change overnight and as well as being pressured into passing the lower prices on to consumers, the petrol stations etc want to increase demand and therefore will need to lower prices a bit to entice more sales. Btw I am agreeing that global weakening of consumer demand is driving prices down - but other forces are also trying to push prices down by passing lower fuel prices to the consumer more quickly.
On another note, I'm out in Iowa and the gas prices here are hovering around $2.50 per gallon. That's about a $1.10 drop per gallon since last month. Regardless of everything else, I actually don't dread hitting the gas station as much at this point in time
Gas demand has stayed the same. The recent drop was because oil prices were in a bubble and the credit collapse also caused panic in the oil markets and prices were corrected to normal levels.